Operation Protect Cub
by Ashadowofwings
Summary: Since the sniper failed, Scorpia has vowed to kill Alex before three weeks is up, and it's up to a certain SAS team to stop them. ON HIATUS Sorry, I've tried, but frankly I got older and I can't read it without wincing. Thanks for all the support.
1. Prologue

_All of England will know that Alex Rider is dead in three weeks time. _

The head of MI6 had read the note in his hands many times, but the above sentence was the only one that stuck in his head. The note had recently been delivered by Scorpia to the British government, and a couple of people in high up places had heard of it…and were not happy about it. This was due mainly to the face that a couple of said officials knew who Alex Rider was – or, more importantly, how old Alex was.

In the privacy of his private office, Blunt sighed and put his head in his hands for a moment. Scorpia had no qualms about killing a fourteen year-old. Not for the first time, Blunt wondered if it had been a good idea to recruit a kid as a spy.

But now was not the time for doubts. Now was the time for action.

There was a brisk knock on the door. Blunt composed his features in seconds, voice bland as he called, "Come in."

Mrs. Jones entered and closed the door behind her, sitting down across from Blunt. After a brief pause, she said firmly, "We have to protect him."

Blunt nodded. "Yes. Yes, we do."

Mrs. Jones gave him a sharp look, wondering at his motives. But Blunt's face, as always, gave no answers. "Well then," she said calmly, "I'm thinking SAS. _Teams_ of SAS."

Blunt raised his eyebrows carefully. "Oh, I think one team should do it."

"We can't take any chances," Mrs. Jones replied sharply.

Blunt shrugged. "We're not. I have just the team in mind – and they're good. Not only that, but Alex is already acquainted with them…."


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Haha just showing my noobness there by forgetting to put the author's note in the prologue… so here it is!

So yeah, this is my first Alex Rider fanfiction. :) Advice welcome! I haven't read fanfic in awhile, and I've only written (very, very briefly ;) for Danny Phantom. But I love the Alex Rider books and I recently got into fanfic again so…I'm gonna give it a try!

This piece is definitely inspired by the other writers out here…there's some real talent on this site, and definitely in the AR section. Most notably amitai's and Von's work inspired me to start writing AR fic, mostly because I always loved the interactions between Alex and the K-Unit in the books – some of my favorite parts there. :D

Anyways, this fic is hopefully not ripping off anyone's style (please inform me if you feel it is!) and I apologize if it seems that way, because I've been reading my fill of AR fanfic here the last week or so and it's all floating around in my head right now. I'm mildly happy with it so far, but I hate the name I came up with. D: Please don't hesitate to suggest new ones….

Reviews are greatly appreciated!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Alex Rider or all things associated with Alex Rider…duh, that's why I'm writing in FANfiction. :P

Jack surveyed the crowded kitchen at her and Alex's house in Chelsea. Blunt and Mrs. Jones were seated at the counter, and four fit, highly trained and armed young men clustered around the modest counter – presumably the SAS team Blunt said were to protect Alex for the next three weeks. Their 'names' were Eagle (a tall, lanky, dark-skinned guy who was leaning in the door way to the kitchen), Fox (the short, tough-looking red-head who stood near Mrs. Jones, leaning on the counter), Snake (the skinny blonde who sat in the third chair in the far corner, tapping his foot) and Wolf (a powerfully built, vaguely Hispanic man who stood with his arms crossed at Blunt's shoulder).

Jack cleared her throat nervously from her corner of the kitchen, and said in a slightly high voice, "Does anyone want coffee?" Six heads swiveled her way, and Jack felt like shrinking into the corner. Behind Blunt and Jones, Snake gave her a tiny, apologetic smile, pitying the young woman.

The truth was, Jack was completely at a loss as to what to do in this position. Never before had MI6 come to Alex's own house before, and today was a particularly bad time for them to come. Alex had returned from the hospital after his gunshot wound only the day before – and the doctors had wanted him to be in a hospital bed right now. Alex had flatly demanded to go home, so the doctors agreed to visit him daily and check up on him at his house, even acknowledging that a familiar environment might help him relax recover more quickly. The teen was asleep in his room, where he'd been the past 12 hours.

Jack would've turned MI6 away on her doorstep (she'd always wanted to slam the door in Blunt's face anyways) if they hadn't explained the situation right away: they were only there to protect Alex from Scorpia, not to recruit him on another mission. Jack had reluctantly let them in, more than slightly intimidated by the amount of fire-arms and weapons on the four SAS men (not to mention their bulging muscles). Now the seven of them had been waiting for over 40 minutes – Jack had refused to wake up Alex.

The uncomfortable silence (it seemed that no one wanted coffee) was suddenly broken by the sound of running water upstairs. "He'll be down soon," Jack said tightly after a moment. She was greatly relieved, because this had to be the most awkward gathering of individuals she had ever been unfortunate enough to take part in.

Sure enough, the sound of slow, steady footsteps could soon be heard on the stairs. Alex walked into the room yawning, eyes closed and, for the moment, blissfully unaware of the unexpected company.

Wolf felt a shock go through his system. Cub wore loose green flannel pants and a too big T-shirt, his blonde hair was mussed, and his unhealthy pale coloring made him look delicate and somehow smaller. When his eyes opened, they looked completely different then Wolf remembered them – a soft, chocolate brown color, a little sad but without the extreme alertness and shrewd, calculating look Wolf so vividly recalled. He looked like a completely different kid – a kid who had nothing to do with evil masterminds, criminal organizations, highly advanced and dangerous technology, and certainly nothing to do with Wolf and his team.

Alex felt the breath go out of his lungs instantly, and he backed up on instinct so he was against the wall. Angry with himself, he closed his eyes briefly and desperately worked to get himself under control. He hated to show such weakness in front of these people, but to Alex it was incredibly disconcerting to have them in his home. This was his sanctuary, the one place where he was safe from MI6 and villains worldwide, the one place he didn't have to think about that stuff…unless the phone rang.

When he opened his eyes again, Wolf noted that the innocent look was gone, and the familiar wariness was there. The kid opened his mouth to ask something, but the question died on his lips, and he seemed to settle for sizing up the SAS team and the two head MI6 adults in silence. He looked to Jack with a question in his eyes, wondering why on earth she would let them in.

She sighed. "Alex…they're not gonna make you go on another mission."

Mrs. Jones coughed and took over. "Scorpia isn't going to give up. They've told us they plan to kill you by the end of three weeks. Don't worry; this house is closely guarded as we speak."

There was a very pregnant pause as the adults waited on Alex's response. He glanced around the room again, eyes resting briefly on each of the four SAS men, lingering on Wolf with a frown on his lips. His eyes snapped to Mrs. Jones again. "So why are _they_ here?" Snake winced at his tone, though he supposed they deserved it for their treatment of Cub at training. That had bothered him for a long time now; ever since he'd seen Cub at Point Blanc and understood that his work for MI6 was very real and very dangerous, Snake felt guilty for being just one more hurdle in the kid's already difficult life.

It was Blunt who responded. "They're going to protect you."

Alex felt the familiar frustration build up. Of _course_ MI6 picked the one SAS team Alex hoped to never see again. "Great," he said wryly, voice layered with heavy sarcasm. "Just great."

Safely out of Blunt's sight, Eagle grinned at him, wondering where the kid had picked up the backtalk.

"You can't stay here," Mrs. Jones continued. "We have a place for you to move in, and the team will protect you at all times." She gave Alex a hesitant smile, which was not returned. "We won't let them hurt you."

Alex's fists clenched. "Right," he said slowly, anger coloring his voice. "Because it wouldn't look to great for MI6 to be responsible for a 14 year-old's death, huh? I doubt many people would be too pleased with you people hiring me and getting me killed." He was deeply satisfied with their responses – all four SAS men looked alarmed and uncomfortable (Fox's arm slipped off the table, and Snake's foot stopped tapping), Mrs. Jones winced visibly and even Blunt frowned ever so slightly at him. He wasn't really sure why he was so angry at them today, but he was still reeling privately at the surreal feeling of having them in his own house. Offense is, after all, one of the best defenses.

"Well," Blunt said brusquely after a couple seconds of dead silence. "We'll be on our way. Go with the team." He was pulling on his jacket as he spoke. "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Starbright," he added stiffly, before leaving the room, Mrs. Jones right behind him.

No one moved as the door closed: Jack and Alex stayed on their side of the kitchen, and the four SAS men stayed on the other. Alex was suddenly, horribly aware of his pajamas.

"Phew," Eagle muttered to Snake. "Blunt gives me the willies. Creepy guy." Snake nodded in amused agreement but Wolf rolled his eyes at his teammate.

"So…," Fox drawled. "How's it goin', Cub?"


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow thanks for all the reviews:D happydance That made my day. I'll try to always reply to each of you, but…it was kinda hard this chapter, so I don't know if I always will. Thanks so much, though, and now it's always appreciated! 3

So…not to get your hopes down, but I don't think all of the updates are going to be as fast as this last one…I wrote this on a road trip all in one go with no internet, and I only have a little more than this saved. Also, break will be over soon, and swim season's gonna start…freshman year of high school has a way of eating all of my free time, I'm sure you guys understand. ;)

**Merveilleuz24**: Thanks, I will:)

**Amitai**: Ahh yes the horrors of Sue's, Stu's and bad grammar. pats

Gah I know, the K-Unit is definitely my weak point. :D Wait, brackets as in like, (parenthesis)? Haha I know, it's a little quirky thing I do sometimes…I took 'em out in this chapter; I didn't realize how much I was using them. I have an obsession with semi-colons, too….

Yeah, I wasn't sure if Blunt and Jones would come to his house at all…but then again, there's no real rules for a 14 year-old MI6 agent, huh? Ah the joys of fanfic…still, I'll try to get stuff like that right more often, once I get used to AR fanfic.

I'll try to write longer chapters, too…I don't know how you do it. D:

I might take you up on the beta idea, but not right now. If I keep writing AR stuff though, I'll definitely need some help. The only other idea I got floating around is a oneshot where Alex is working at a grocery store and Wolf comes to buy stuff and it's just awkward turtle humor. :D

Thanks!

**Von**: Thanks:D

I dunno, I was thinking about the names…I might shy away from them for awhile, cause I like some of amitai's but not all of them. I dunno I might be lazy and not do it for this fic, but if I do come up with some I like I'm definitely slipping them in. :)

This one's longer! …well, a little. sigh I'll work on it, but they're definitely gonna come slower….:)

**Cullen-o-mania**: Twilight fan? Lol just guessing by your username…though I have to admit I'm a member of the Jake club…still, Edward is love. :D

And thanks:)

**Jimmy Candlestick**: Thanks a ton! I know, I went overboard with the parenthesis there (I don't know how to spell it either lol), and I edited them in this next chapter.

**Musiclover33**: Thanks, and I hope this is soon enough! Lol ;)

**Aly01**: Thank you! I did:D

**HawkEyeDownUnder**: Aww…thanks. blush I will, and you have permission to get on my case if I drop it unfinished. I'll try really, really hard not to do that.

**SheWeapon1**: Thank you:)

**SamandJake**: Glad to hear it; hear ya go:)

**R-Goemi**: Thanks, hope I didn't make you wait too long. ;)

**God is power**: You got it, and thanks. :)

**MinibooExtreme**: Thank you:D

"_So…," Fox drawled. "How's it goin', Cub?"_

Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh it's all great, Fox; getting shot in the heart is quite an enjoyable experience, I assure you."

"Wait," Jack said firmly, disbelief in her voice. "You know them?"

Alex groaned. "I can't believe this is happening," he grumbled. His eyes flickered to Wolf, who was calmly watching the boy. They held each others' gaze for a moment, and then Alex broke it by turning sharply and walking back to the stairs, muttering something about packing.

Jack crossed her arms, watching Wolf. She hadn't missed the interaction between the man and the boy. "Explain."

"Cub was put in our unit for ten days of training awhile back," Snake supplied helpfully.

Jack's mouth twitched. "He actually got a SAS 'codename'?" She was clearly amused.

Eagle pretended to be affronted. "You have a problem with SAS codenames?" His eyes told her he was kidding.

She snorted. "Cub. I gotta call him that one of these days…wait a second," she added, suddenly suspicious. "This wouldn't be the training that had something to do with climbing a rock wall? He was telling me that's how he got a nasty scratch after his first mission." For some reason she was staring at them with definite dislike.

"Er…there are an unfortunate amount of rock walls at that camp - " Fox started.

"We may have had to climb a couple –" This was Eagle, looking sheepish.

"-a couple hundred –"

"-thousand, more like," Snake muttered, hiding a smile.

But now Jack was looking furious. "She also told me he wasn't exactly welcomed by the group of men he partnered with…especially not their leader." Her eyes shifted around the room before settling on Wolf. Even in the little kitchen, far away from battle, it was clear who the leader was.

"Jack…," Alex was in the door way, holding a backpack with clothes hastily stuffed in the top (and now dressed in jeans and a hoodie) and leaning against the wall, clearly tired. "It's okay. We have a…," he glanced at Wolf, "mutual agreement." At Jack's piercing look, he elaborated slightly. "It's rather a long story," he said quietly. "With planes…and bullets…"

"And a woman built like a _wall,_" Fox muttered, pulling a small, unwilling smile out of Alex: he couldn't have described Mrs. Stellenbosch any better.

Jack sighed and nodded. "Okay." She caught Alex in a sudden hug, careful to not put any pressure on his chest. "Be safe," she whispered.

Alex gently squeezed her back. "I will."

The four SAS shuffled awkwardly, moving to the door. Jack let him go, and he slung the pack over his shoulder and walked slowly out the door. Snake followed, taking out the keys for the car.

As Eagle left the house last, Jack's slim hand caught his arm. He tensed on instinct, but turned and looked at her calmly, eyebrows raised. "Keep him safe," she whispered. "Promise me you will. God, he was just _shot_ and he's only fourteen."

Eagle swallowed. She was really pretty when she was worried…. "We will," he promised quietly.

Alex leaned against the window, turned towards the other men. Fox and Eagle were in the backseat with him, Eagle looking almost comical with his knees pulled up so far in the cramped Toyota. Snake was driving, and Wolf had taken shotgun immediately.

Fox and Eagle were talking animatedly about a recent football game, but Alex didn't quite have the strength to join in. He felt his eyelids fluttering but stubbornly kept them open, not nearly comfortable enough to sleep in front of these men.

The car came to a jerking halt as a motorcycle backed out quickly, and Alex drew a sharp breath at the pain in his chest and closed his eyes to get himself under control, breathing shallowly. When he opened his eyes he could see both Snake and Wolf watching his reflection in the mirror.

"You okay, Cub?" Snake asked quietly, turning his eyes back to the road.

Alex just nodded and let his mind drift, watching London through the window. He wondered which of the men's cars it was; clearly it hadn't been provided by MI6, because Alex knew the look of the suave, ebony cars they usually provided.

He was pretty sure he knew the answer to his question soon after they reached the end of their journey about twenty minutes later. The small house they'd pulled up to was part of a modest looking set of beige colored houses in the outskirts of London, and once again it was Snake who had the keys.

"Whose house is this?" Alex asked quietly. "It doesn't look like some kind of MI6 establishment."

Even though Alex had kept his voice low, Wolf was glancing around the streets to see if anyone had overheard him. Snake responded casually, "Mine." Lowering his voice, he added grimly, "We don't need to make it easy for them by staying at a known MI6 establishment."

Alex nodded, satisfied. He started to walk towards the house, moving at the same careful, measured pace he had all day. His head was starting to hurt, and he knew he needed to get to bed soon.

Alex noticed Eagle and Snake watching him carefully, as if ready to help. He scowled at them. "I'm fully capable of walking," he informed them testily.

"You got shot in the chest, Cub," Wolf informed him sternly – _As if I didn't know_, Alex thought sarcastically – "We're not going to play around with that." He actually looked a little worried.

The inside of the house was neat and organized. The walls were a pleasant blue, the furniture plain and practical. Alex didn't spend time looking around, only wanting a place to crash. Snake led him to a room at the end of a hall and said with a slight smile, "My cousin was staying with me for awhile, but he's off to college now, so I'm gonna put you in his room, okay?"

Alex nodded and even managed a small smile back before closing the door behind him and flipping the light switch. The blonde man had always seemed to be the friendliest of the four men. He leaned against the door, holding his backpack in one hand, and surveyed the room. The walls were a forest green color, and various posters littered them, haphazardly taped all around. The bed had a comfortable crème colored comforter made up on top and looked amazingly inviting. Alex changed quickly into pajamas and turned off the light, collapsing into bed.

Alex woke up hours later and glanced at the clock near the bed. It was 6:15 AM, on a Sunday morning – he doubted anyone was awake. He'd been sleeping since about 5 PM yesterday, and he was starved.

He stood up and stretched, feeling incredibly well-rested. He hadn't gotten much sleep at the hospital, fancy as it was. The room he resided in now, though unfamiliar, was much better than the stark white hospital; the homey feel relaxed Alex. It also helped that he didn't receive any funny looks from nurses (who ever heard of a 14 year-old with a bullet wound?) that had kept him anxious for hours.

It was a funny matter, the whole 'secret identity' thing. When he'd first been recruited by MI6, it was all he could do to not shout out the truth every time his teachers showed their disappointment in his sloppy work and absences, or every time his peers had jibed at suspicions of drug-use or gang-involvement. He'd felt violated, stung by the harsh unfairness of it all.

But now? After seeing Sarov eat the gun, after getting sniped at in the middle of the very city he'd grown up in? Now he was just grateful that he could still worry about schoolwork, and social life and football sometimes. The thought of his innocent peers knowing about his double life gave him a deep, unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste before slipping into the hallway. The house was quiet and still, lit by the rising sun in one window. He found the bathroom after only one wrong try (a closet) and turned on the water to brush his teeth and wash his face. To his surprise, a voice drifted from the room nearby, hard with suspicion. "Cub?"

Eagle came around the corner holding his gun. Alex started. He felt his pulse accelerate and his breath grow shorter and the sight of the black barrel, which he kept his eyes trained on. His chest ached, and Alex's mind raced, vividly recalling the searing pain that came from bullets when no Kevlar was involved.

Eagle blinked, peering at him, and stuck the gun casually in its holder by his pocket, before nodding at him. "Mornin'," he yawned. "I'd say you're an early riser, but then again all you seem to do lately is sleep." 

Alex blinked and turned off the water, watching the man carefully.

Eagle looked back at him blearily. "What?"

Alex leaned against the bathroom counter, still watching Eagle. "Why are you guys so friendly all of sudden?" His voice was almost accusing. "You didn't seem to want anything to do with me before; what's with the change?" He was frowning in confusion. Alex didn't like it when people didn't make sense.

"Geez, you sound like it's a bad thing," Eagle said defensively. Alex just waited, and the man sighed. "Look, Cub, we didn't think you were the real deal back at camp. It was just so ridiculous to have a fourteen year-old in the middle of our training camp, let alone in our unit!" He paused, his voice showing the surprise he still felt. Shaking his head slowly, he continued. "After the whole business at Point Blanc, though…damn it, kid, you were good. And you were beat up like nothing else, but they still made you go back in. It was unnerving.

"Anyways, I – well, we, really – feel you've definitely earned hospitality. I mean, making your life hell isn't actually that fun," he said with a wicked grin. He sobered up for a moment and added, "Sorry about that, by the way. I know that's a pretty late apology, but…yeah.

"And, you know people tend to not be their nicest at SAS training camps, too," he added as an afterthought. "And now look what you've made me do – go off and make a speech. Snake's rubbing off on me…."

Alex remained leaning on the counter, face betraying nothing as Eagle waited for his response. He'd 'earned hospitality', apparently – but what did that mean? Friendship? He was shocked that he was even considering himself 'friends' with these men, albeit in a very loose sense of the word; until yesterday it never would've crossed his mind.

But surviving that training together _was_ a bit of bonding experience, in a twisted, cruel way.

"All right," he said after a moment, and, for lack of something else to say, turned back to the sink.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Back again :D Writing this is addictive…

Okay, last time I didn't realize that my line breaks got screwed up when I saved this to the fanfic docs…so sorry if there were little jumps in places. I used different ones in this chapter, which should work.

Also, I hope to continue chapters more at this length in the future, which could slow the updates….

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

When Alex came out to the kitchen 10 minutes later, dressed and feeling cleaner, he found Eagle and Wolf sitting at the counter, drinking coffee. Eagle's face was hidden behind the newspaper.

"Where're Snake and Fox?" Alex asked, looking around.

"Asleep," grumbled Eagle from behind the paper. "Lucky buggers." Alex realized that two men at the counter were probably on watch-duty.

Alex grabbed a chair and sat down near Eagle, idly flipping through one of the other papers. Just as he started wondering when they were going to eat breakfast, an old lab walked slowly into the room. Alex blinked, surprised; Snake had a dog? The dog took no notice of him, instead padding to the counter and slumping to the floor at Wolf's feet. Wolf absent-mindedly reached down and scratched its head.

After a while, Alex glanced at the other two men and judged that neither was going to provide food anytime soon. Getting up, he opened the fridge door and was met with the sad whiteness of a nearly empty fridge.

"He hasn't been home enough to stock it," Wolf called from the table.

Alex glanced at them. "Were you two planning on eating breakfast?"

Wolf blinked, and Eagle looked at him with raised brows over his paper. "We have coffee," he said slowly, as if it were the answer to the world's ills.

The teen made an exasperated noise and turned back to the fridge. Snake did have a rather battered looking carton of eggs, half full, and a partly used cube of butter. After some searching in the rest of the kitchen, Alex managed to assemble a plate, a bowl, a fork, a frying pan, and a broken spatula. The entire kitchen (with the exception of the table and the coffee-maker) had a film of dust over everything and an unused look. "Bread?" he asked the other two men, glancing around the kitchen. Surely they had something as simple as that.

They were staring at him, which made him nervous. Eagle's newspaper had wilted backwards and his mouth was open slightly as his eyes followed the teen's movements. Wolf's coffee looked like it was getting cold, but he didn't notice.

After a moment, Wolf managed, "Are you going to…_cook?_"

Alex was caught by the conflicting desires to be embarrassed and to laugh at them. "Yes..?"

The teen shook his head in disbelief at their reactions and turned back around, scrambling the eggs in the bowl with the fork. He spread the butter over the frying pan with the spatula and turned the heat on, and soon the crackling of the scrambled eggs frying filled the kitchen.

"Why didn't we hire him to cook for us earlier?" It was Fox, whispering loudly to the others. Alex made a face at him. Snake walked into the kitchen next and wordlessly pulled three-quarters of a wheat bread loaf out of cabinet, holding it out to the boy.

Alex didn't take the offered loaf, and there was a pause as he stared at the four of them. "Surely if the four of you put your heads together you can figure out how to operate a toaster."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Scrambled eggs and toast, Alex decided later, was a wonderful invention. True, there hadn't been any milk to make the eggs fluffy, or any jam to put on the toast, but it was good enough. His stomach had been growling hungrily earlier, but there was plenty of eggs – Alex had dumped them all on to the frying pan. He concluded this was a wise idea as he watched the men continue eating without any signs of slowing.

"So," Alex said partway into the meal. "Am I allowed to go back to school tomorrow? I mean, with the whole death-threat thing, 'cause the doctor said I could before." This wasn't strictly true; the doctor had actually said that he would tell Alex if he could return to school at his check-up, which had previously been scheduled for today.

Alex somehow doubted said check-up would occur.

"Yes," answered Snake promptly, at the same time Wolf muttered, "Maybe."

Fox scowled. "We've been over this, Wolf." He turned to Alex. "Yes. You're going."

"You just don't want to be a janitor, Wolf," Eagle chipped in, smirking.

Alex choked on his bite of toast, and asked quickly, "_What_?" No one answered him.

Wolf glowered at Eagle. "No, I don't think the security is up to –"

"It's been improved so much, though, after Invisible Sword," Snake interrupted impatiently. "He's just as safe there as he is here –"

Wolf snorted. "None of those security men are up to SAS standards."

Eagle looked affronted. "Well of _course_ they're not. _No one_ is up to SAS standards."

"This isn't our decision to make, anyways," Snake said firmly. "It's already been made."

There was a heavy pause. "_Janitor_?" Alex asked finally, desperate for answers.

Wolf groaned. "Don't remind me…."

"We need someone on the premises while you're in classes," Snake said seriously. "And Wolf –"

"Looks best in a janitor's uniform," Eagle muttered, and Fox hastily turned his laugh at the comment into a hacking cough at the look on Wolf's face.

"- is best at fighting with little weaponry," Snake finished, as if there hadn't been an interruption.

"Oh." Alex wasn't sure what to make of this. He was pretty sure that his idea of 'little weaponry' was not the same as Snake's, which, frankly, was frightening. But his lips twitched at the thought of telling Tom that the new janitor was actually an ill-tempered and armed SAS fighter.

Snake stood and stretched. "I'm taking Louie for a walk." The lab beneath the table seemed to recognize its name (or possibly the word 'walk') and stood as well, tail wagging frantically.

Alex, gathering up the dishes, asked quickly, "Can I come?" It would be nice to get outdoors for once.

"Sure. Eagle: do dishes," Snake said instantly. Eagle opened his mouth to complain, and then seemed to think better of it. Alex privately noted how much younger Eagle seemed than the others.

"Wait," Wolf said, frowning. "Two of us have to go, then."

Fox stood. "I will."

"Why do two of you- " Alex started to ask, then corrected himself out loud. "Scorpia. Right."

"Not forgetting about that, are you?" Wolf asked dryly. Alex pointedly ignored him.

A few minutes later, Fox, Snake, Alex, and Louie were walking briskly in the cold London air.

"How do you have time to look after a dog, anyways?" Alex asked Snake off-handedly after they turned back to head towards the house. He couldn't imagine himself trying to take care of a dog without help; he never knew when he might have to up and leave for who knew how long.

Snake glanced sideways at him. "A friend of mine takes care of him while I'm 'away'; she basically watches him almost as much as I do. We kind of share ownership."

Alex frowned. "But what if you leave him stranded when something comes up all of a sudden?" _All the little things become so much more complicated when you work for MI6_, he reflected. He hated never knowing when he might be gone, or for how long, or if he'd even return at all.

Both men were looking at him curiously. "I think you've got our job confused with yours there, Cub," Fox said lightly. "We don't ever have to leave randomly 'when something comes up all of a sudden'." His tone was easy-going, but his words made Alex flush slightly all the same for forgetting how very different his 'job' was from theirs.

Alex glanced away from them, looking around the street, and instantly felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

Every single one of the other people on the street was young, fit, and balanced on the balls of their feet.

Sure, they weren't obvious about it. One man was on the corner, tying his shoe, another sitting on a bench reading the paper. A woman was walking speedily by in a full workout suit, headphones in her ears.

But Alex knew how to spot the little details, and he was wondering why there were so many people out this early on this specific block, why they were all roughly the same age and in top physical condition, and why they all seemed to move with the grace of fighters.

He swallowed, and hissed, "Snake -"

"I know," was the quiet, terse reply. Alex suddenly realized that the two men he was walking with were as stiff and tense as he felt; they seemed to have noticed the same things he had at the same time. The three of them kept walking, but they had picked up a little speed.

Alex wasn't sure what alerted him to the sniper's presence. Later he would wonder if it was some sense he'd picked up from being sniped before, if there was some way he'd heard the tiny click as the man started to pull the trigger, causing him to freeze on instinct. His sudden halt made the sniper adjust his aim slightly to change from a moving target to a still one, giving Fox the precious seconds to take in Alex's reaction, rake the rooftops with his eyes, catch sight of the sniper and hurl himself into Alex. The two of them crashed into the wall of a building as a bullet smacked into the concrete where the teen had been a heartbeat before.

The next thing Alex knew, he was sprinting into an alley, half-dragged by Fox, and gunshots were sounding all around. Louie the lab was running down the alley, whimpering with his leash swinging behind him. He found himself shoved behind a dumpster (1) with Snake and Fox on either side of him, firing.

But the two men were outnumbered. There was a good seven or eight random men and women from the street who'd produced dangerous-looking guns out of nowhere, and every one of them knew how to use them. Both men were soon ducking for cover behind the dumpster with Alex. Bullets rattled against the metal of the dumpster, then stopped.

The teen pulled his knees up to his chest, put his head back against the wall at his back, and tried to control his frantically beating heart, which felt like it was trying to jump out of his chest. Swallowing, he looked at the other two men. These were the hardened, tough soldiers he remembered, their faces cold and eyes focused. Fox was holding a small handheld transceiver to his ear, which was already flashing a red light – presumably a distress signal. Someone said something on the other end of the receiver, but the volume was turned down so low that it came out as a nearly inaudible muffled noise to Alex. Fox answered almost as quietly, saying only the names of the streets intersecting at the nearby corner.

"Give us Rider," a voice said silkily from the other side of the dumpster, breaking the short, intense silence. "That's all we want…" There was the faintest sound of a foot against the concrete.

In answer Snake shot up and fired at the exact location of the noise without taking time to aim, shooting down just as quickly. Bullets embedded themselves in the wall where his head had been moments earlier. The Scottish man was rewarded by a strangled cry and a muffled thump – apparently, he'd hit his mark.

Silence reigned again, but Alex was sure the assassins were on the move, probably surrounding the dumpster, or placing a sniper above them. He just couldn't hear anything. The total lack of noise was horrible; it filled his stomach with dread, weighing down the atmosphere, making it harder and harder to breathe –

Gunshots rang out again, and suddenly Snake and Fox were running out, firing once more. Alex risked a peek over the top of the dumpster.

Wolf and Eagle were now in the fray, and apparently had gained the upper hand for the SAS men by using surprise. Bullets were flying, Wolf was punching a man hard enough to make his nose break…and suddenly the assassins were suddenly no longer there. As one they had blended into the shadows of London's many nooks and crannies. Scorpia knew when to back out of a battle.

Shaking, Alex willed the strength into his legs to stand up slightly. Wolf turned to the small movement instantly, saw Alex, and commanded roughly, "Stay down." Alex sat, obeying without thinking. When Wolf used a voice like that, he couldn't help it.

Three of the men methodically scanned the area, but Fox made his way towards the wall near the dumpster and sat down heavily, breathing shallowly. He was holding his left arm near the shoulder, and blood seeped from between his fingers. Despite Wolf's orders, Alex felt a strong desire to go to the man who'd just saved his life, and did so. Sitting quietly next to him, he asked, "You gonna be okay?"

Fox opened his eyes and gave him a grim, tight smile. "Yeah," he rasped. "I've had worse. I think."

Alex frowned. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Fox nodded. "MI6 is on the wa- here they are now."

A black car screeched to a halt in the alley, and some tough-looking men in professional clothing raced out, armed. One rushed over to Alex and began to pull him to his feet. Wolf started, and Eagle took a step towards him, eyes narrowed.

"Hey!" To the man's surprise, Alex twisted out of his grip, and stood up on his own, looking up to meet the man's eyes firmly. The four SAS watched in silence. "You have ID or anything? Are they," he gestured to the SAS team, "coming? Fox needs to get to a hospital, and it might not be safe here."

The man looked slightly taken aback by being addressed in such a way by a teenager. "You need to get in the car, Alex," he said firmly, pulling out legit ID. "Another car will be here shortly to pick them up." He took Alex's arm and towed him to the car, grip firmer this time, and impossible to twist out of.

Alex looked at Wolf, who nodded at him. Sighing, the teen got into the car, actually hoping he saw the four men again.

They were much better to work with than any MI6 people he'd ever met.

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(1) Is this the right word? Y'know, one of those, like, big metal boxes with trash in them…yeah. Ahhh good ol' Wikipedia tells me I am correct and that in England and Australia they are sometimes called 'wheelie bins' or 'skips'…lol!

Putting review replies down here so people who don't want to read them don't have to…

**PsychoWing**: Haha yeah he was pretty ticked off before, but I was thinking Blunt and Jones being around just puts him on edge, and that he really needed to get sleep, so he feels better now. :) Thanks for the review(s)!

**Cullen-o-mania**: I figured. :P And thanks!

**MinibooExtreme**: Thanks! I didn't like it as much as the first, actually, but oh well.

**Musiclover33**: Thank you!

**HawkEye DownUnder**: This chapter should answer your question. :) Though honestly I can't remember if he got shot during the school year and I don't actually own the books (-gasp!- haha I actually just check them out at the library a LOT), but for my purposes it's sometime in the school year.

**R-Goemi**: Haha yeah I hope not. :P Thanks!

**Jimmy Candlestick**: Thanks, and I like the SAS guys a lot, too lol. I was thinking soccer, because they're in Britain and all. Though that is the only place in the story where I made an effort to make it sound British; you know, I'll say fries instead of chips, flashlight instead of torch, sweatshirt instead of jumper and all that.

**Von**: Drat, missed that one.

Okay lol both you and amitai seems to think that's creepy, but I'm just gonna reveal this now: that was maybe by (bad) attempt at subtly starting a bit of Jack/Eagle…which is actually maybe possibly planned for this story….lol I suppose it does sound a little creepy that way, huh? Oh well. :D

I didn't know that thing about the reply section…I'll probably get lazy and stop doing this at some pint anyway. But thanks for the heads-up.

And this one IS longer; I was originally going to make it 2 chapters, I think, but now I want to see if I can start pushing them to be longer….

**Jedi Knight of Middle-Earth**: Haha, nice username. :D And thanks. :)

**Lake25**: Thanks:) Haha serious talk in the bathroom…that sounds dirty! LOL just kidding:P

**Gold is power**: Um, okay. :)

**CMT1992**: Thanks! Me, too, they're my favorite. :D

**Amitai**: I can totally understand a hyphen obsession; they work much the same as semi-colons, after all. :D

Haha okay, angstified version, I wanna read that. And I don't think I'd need help with that one anyways, I was gonna base it off a similar piece I wrote for something completely different, so I know how I want to set it up already.

Thanks! I'm still greatly amused by the fact that you and Von think Eagle is now a closet psychopath…haha that was my (bad and not-so-subtle) attempt at working up to Jack/Eagle…? Don't worry, I have a lot more planned for the two of them…-evil laugh-

**Master Minds**: Thanks! That's really nice to hear. :D


	5. Chapter 4

Hey all :) This would've been up sooner, but I haven't had power for over two days. XX It's a tad bit shorter than I planned, too, because I have to go do homework now, sadly.

Oh, and sorry if I got you all worried, but please don't be alarmed: the K-Unit are not going to drop out of this story. They are definitely main characters in this little fic, so you don't have to worry about them up and leaving.

Just a quick note – I'm not really sure how realistic some of this is. Just…it's fanfic about a 14 year-old spy, so if MI6 seems a little off, I'm sorry. Just trying to fit it into my plan for the characters, so…yeah. I'm probably going to avoid much MI6 contact in the future, because this came out very tangled. Meh. Sorry about that.

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No one spoke inside the black car. Alex sat staring out the window, silently pulling himself together after the shock of the attack and wondering what the hell was going to happen to him now.

The car moved fast - _definitely above the speed limit_, Alex thought mulishly - and took the turns sharply. It was almost as if they had no destination - Alex was sure they'd been in this part of the city before. But that didn't seem like MI6 at all. MI6 _always_ seemed to have a 'destination', a goal to work towards.

The man who'd picked up Alex glanced out the window for what seemed like the hundredth time. It suddenly dawned on Alex what their goal was: to not be followed.

"Where are we going?" Alex said the question hesitantly after minutes of debating with himself whether it was worth asking. He received sharp looks and, to his surprise, an answer, even if it wasn't much of one.

"An apartment complex."

Alex's eyebrows shot up. "I'm staying in London?"

"It was random luck that they found you."

"But who says they won't get lucky again?" Alex's voice had a hint of anger behind it. No one answered him. "Doesn't MI6 have someplace more, you know, Fort Knox-esque?"

The man looked highly irritated by his persistence, and answered the question as though each word cost him. "Scorpia knows all of the likely places you would go – you must go somewhere they are not expecting. London is big enough to hide you in."

Alex returned his gaze to the window, knowing when a conversation was over, but he felt like rolling his eyes. Why did MI6 always have to take risks with his life? It was all well enough for people like Blunt and Jones, sitting warm and cozy in their offices while Alex risked his neck on what was becoming a frighteningly regular basis.

Ten more minutes passed in stony silence. Abruptly, the man spoke up again. "You have to be a little more careful – only go out when there are a lot of other people on the street, and keep a hood up, since they seem quite fond of hiding out on rooftops. Scorpia found you by watching the streets much more easily than we would've guessed possible."

The teen frowned. "But they know where I go to school, don't they?"

"We assume so. However, there's no way they can get into the building while classes are in session with all of the new security. And you will have a personal bodyguard for whenever you are not directly within the security's circumference."

_That must be janitor Wolf_. It gave Alex great pleasure to be able to fill in a part of the puzzle without MI6.

The car seemed to have finally reached its destination. They were near a poorer area of London, and had stopped in front of a gray apartment building. The man handed him a key, muttered, "Get inside quickly," and gestured for him to get out of the car. The moment Alex did so, the black car left, leaving him stranded on the sidewalk. He felt like protesting, but as he watched the elegant black automobile speed off, he understood: the car stood out.

Alex followed the MI6 man's advice, feeling horribly exposed on the street. It saddened him to wonder how long it would be until he could feel safe on the streets of his home city again.

He glanced at the key in his hand, which had a small number engraved at the top: 317. He found the place easily enough and unlocked it quietly, slipping through the entrance and closing the door noiselessly behind him. The lights were off, and he waited in the darkness for a couple moments. It didn't sound like anyone was there.

He flipped on the switch. The yellowish light illuminated a plain-looking room with chipped white paint on the walls. Curious, he explored the small area. It was all neat, orderly and dusty, and if he hadn't known better Alex would've said that no one was living there at the moment. There were only three main rooms: the kitchen, with a small bar-fashioned counter, a living room with a couch and a TV and another room with a closed door, presumably the bedroom.

He paused before the latter, not wanting to intrude on the privacy of whoever resided here by opening the door. He didn't need to satisfy his curiosity so badly as to do something so blatantly rude and intrusive. And yet….

Poking around had saved his life before. Alex made up his mind and turned the handle.

Like the rest of the house, the bedroom didn't say all that much about whoever lived here. Unlike the other rooms, it did show definite signs of living. A couple of random articles of clothing were strewn across the floor, and the bed was rumpled and unmade. A copy of _The Lord of the Rings_ was on the bedside dresser, looking very well-read, next to a couple of Dean Koontz (1) novels.

There were a couple of photo frames by the books, and Alex crossed the room to get a better look, taking care not to disturb anything or show any signs of his passage.

One showed a group of five kids with their arms around each other's shoulders, all grinning. They were clearly siblings; all shared the same coal black hair, bronze skin and face structure.

The second photography depicted a man and a boy. They were sitting at an ice cream parlor, and the little boy held a huge sugar cone bursting with chocolate ice cream and was grinning from ear to ear. The man – who, on closer expectation, was fairly young, maybe 20 or 21 – was laughing and ruffling the boy's hair.

Was the man _Wolf?_ Alex leaned closer, fascinated, and confirmed that the young man was indeed the leader of the K-Unit. But he looked completely different. His face was relaxed and happy; though he couldn't be more that much older now, he looked as though he had aged immensely since the picture was taken.

Alex wondered if Wolf had already been involved with the SAS when he'd been sitting there with the boy, if he had already killed people for his government.

Suddenly, Alex felt a prickling of unease. How long had he been in this room, anyways? Someone was undoubtedly going to return soon. He backed up rather hastily, but his retreat caused the frame of Wolf and the boy to topple over. The teen muttered curses in various languages, picking it up gingerly. Thankfully, the glass hadn't cracked. However, the falling had caused a cloud of dust and the corner of a small piece of paper to come free from the back of the frame. Unable to stop himself, Alex carefully worked the rest of the paper out.

It was small, rather like a slightly large business card. On the front was a picture of the boy in the ice cream parlor photo, smiling serenely. Underneath the photo, in an elegant, curling font, were three letters that made Alex's stomach jump unpleasantly: RIP.

He flipped the card over. Written in the same curling font was the boy's name – Lucas Marez – and the dates of his birth and death. Alex swallowed hard: the boy had only been eight years old when he died. Alex flipped up the frame that had fallen over, examining the picture closely. The boy couldn't be much younger than eight; his death had been fast approaching when the photo was taken. Underneath the name on the card was the date of the funeral - some Saturday in January of three years ago. There was no cause of death listed, but on closer inspection, in both pictures the boy looked a little too small and a little too pale.

Keys jingled in the door to the apartment. Alex jumped, startled, and hastily tried to put the card back. It wouldn't go in, so the teen stuck in within one of the books and ran out of the room. He closed the door silently behind him and flew into the living room, sitting on the couch and snatching up a book on the small, low table in front of him. Wolf's voice drifted into the room a split-second later. "Cub? That you?"

About to answer, Alex realized just in time that he should act surprised to see Wolf, since no one had actually told him the man lived here. He bit down the reply he'd been about to give, and managed to put a degree of surprise into his voice. "Wolf?" Too late he realized the book – some mystery novel – was upside down.

The man came around the corner frowning as Alex righted the book and flipped it to a random page. "I thought I heard someone moving around…."

Alex shrugged nonchalantly from behind the book. "I've just been reading."

"Right." He was still looking at Alex strangely as Eagle and Snake entered the small space after dropping off take-out pizza in the kitchen, both promptly settling themselves on the couch on either side of Alex.

Alex wanted to demand why they were staying at another one of the men's houses - hadn't this plan failed last time? – but somehow he found himself asking a different question. "How's Fox?" he burst out, giving up on the battle to keep the embarrassing amount of worry out of his voice.

Sure enough, Eagle caught it, white teeth flashing against his dark skin as he grinned. "Not getting attached to us, are you, Cub? What happened to the surly kid who was demanding to know why we were allowed in your kitchen yesterday?"

Alex rolled his eyes as Snake chuckled and Wolf looked amused (Alex briefly wondered how downright _hilarious_ something had to be to make the man crack a smile). But after a moment, he said quietly, "He saved my life."

Snake sobered up immediately. "He's fine, kid. He'll be out in a couple days, actually."

"He got lucky," Wolf added. "The bullet hit the fleshy part on the side of his left arm; it hurt like hell, and he lost a lot of blood, but all he needed was for them to pull the bullet out, staunch the blood flow and give him a little more blood to make up for the loss."

Eagle wrinkled his nose, standing up. "Thanks for the detailed description, Wolf-man; I was just thinking about dinner." The other three ignored the first comment but rose as well, moving into the kitchen.

"We're going and visiting him tomorrow, after school," Snake added as he opened the two pizza boxes on the table. "Coming?"

"Yes," Alex said instantly, catching the soda can Wolf tossed at him. "But isn't that a little risky? I mean, they found me pretty fast last time…"

Wolf looked at him sharply. "And what did MI6 tell you about that?"

Alex frowned in confusion. "Not much…they said it was random luck –"

He was cut off by Snake's sharp "What?" and Eagle's noises of disbelief. Wolf was scowling darkly.

"It was most certainly _not_ random luck," Snake said angrily. "It was _them_ screwing up."

It was Alex's turn to be startled. "What d'you mean?"

"They sent someone to 'check up on you' – check up on us, more like," Eagle filled in. "At around 3 this morning. And the guy, one of their _agents, _no less,though clearly he's an ignorant bastard, was _followed_."

Alex sat down, taking a bite of his pizza, deep in thought. How could MI6 have been so sloppy?

Snake sighed, sitting down next to him. "They'd forgotten how hard a lot of terrorist organizations have tried to keep tabs on their agents in recent years after that undercover guy in Scorpia." Alex choked on his bite of pizza and quickly stood to grab a napkin to cover his coughs.

"Oh yeah…that guy was amazing," Eagle said. His voice had taken on a reverent quality. "Gave us information for years, though barely anyone knew he was undercover…he was pretending to be an assassin."

"Scorpia killed him in the end, though," Wolf said quietly. None of the men noticed that Alex still had his back to them, and was clenching his napkin with white knuckles. "Him and his wife, and I heard the only thing that stopped 'em from killing his kid was because he wasn't on the plane for some reason, and he was only one."

"He had a kid?" Snake sounded genuinely interested. Alex stiffly walked back to the table, pale-faced, and vainly tried to eat his pizza again. It turned to lead in his mouth.

"Yep," Wolf confirmed. "This older guy told me that once at the camp –"

"Did the guy know him?" Alex asked suddenly. He was watching Wolf intently.

"Yeah, they were friends. The guy – Hawk – worked with him this one time. It was kinda like the thing we did with you at Point Blanc: the spy gets enough info to give MI6 a reason to take them down and then the SAS comes in. It was before he'd gone undercover, I think, though Hawk didn't know about that 'till he died, of course, no one did, but Hawk said he was a real leader. Impressed a whole bunch of hard-core SAS, and that's no easy feat, let me tell you," Wolf finished, respect coloring his voice.

"What was his name again?" Snake asked. "Wasn't it Jacob, or –"

"John," Wolf interrupted. "John something-or-other…I think I have it on a paper somewhere, he was mentioned in a Scorpia briefing. I'll get it out once I'm done with pizza," he added, to Alex's horror.

"You alright, Cub?" Snake asked him, apparently noticing his paleness. Alex closed his eyes, not trusting himself to answer.

"His last name began with an 'R', didn' it?" Eagle frowned. "Riley or sommat –"

"Rider," Alex whispered. What was the point in hiding it? Wolf was going to look it up anyways.

And Alex wasn't ashamed of his father.

He opened his eyes. Snake was staring at him in shock, and his hand jerked, as though he'd made to put it on Alex's shoulder then stopped. Wolf's brow was furrowed, and Alex could see a question forming on his mouth. Eagle just looked confused.

The teen swallowed. "His name was John Rider."

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Haha gotcha! Yay cliffies! Well, it's not much of one, I guess. shrug Anyways, I was gonna write a little more, but I gotta do homework cause my break ends tomorrow. TT New part should be up soonish though!

(1) Good author, that one. He writes lots of thrillers. I recommend Odd Thomas. :)

**Sharedsun: **Thank you. :) I find that the way to stay away from Sues is simply don't create a love interest for Alex, cause those just are at so much risk to become Sues no matter what you do, you know:) Thanks for the review!

**Gold is power: **Thanks! Don't worry, Fox'll be in the next chapter. :)

**MinibooExteme: **Thanks, and I'm glad I can make you laugh by torturing poor Wolf. Don't worry, I believe janitor!Wolf is in the next chapter…

**Lake25: **It was a little hasty, I know, but I wanted to get some action right in at the beginning so everyone's on their toes for the rest of it. And I'm glad you liked those scenes, making Alex obey Wolf's order like that was one of my favorite parts to write lol.

**PsychoWing: **My version of Snake would like to defend himself and say that he can actually cook, but is grossly out of practice after so much time with the SAS. :P

**Merveilleux24: **Haha glad you liked that. Wolf is so FUN to write. :D

**Musiclover33: **He's not, don't worry. :) Thanks for the review!

**Cullen-o-mania: **Yeah, I'm on a roll right now. It might slow down here soon, but I have a general plan for how it's ending, so I shouldn't leave it unfinished. :)

**HawkEye DownUnder: **Thanks. OMG lol I absolutely LOVE Australian accents and all the things you say differently than us Americans do. It's just…so much cooler than the way we talk! lol

**RiderAlex: **Glad you like it. :)

**Embry: **Thanks!

**Von**: I can understand your aversion; I stop reading anything with Alex/OC instantly, too. But Jack and definitely Eagle aren't really very characterized in the books, so I don't feel guilty playing around with it. Don't worry, it's not going to end with any marriages or little Jack-Eagle babies running around. Oh, the horror. ;)

Er, yeah, you caught me on the ID and the emergency thing…helpless shrug This story's not going to be perfect on details like that, though I'll try to look for them…thanks for pointing it out, though. :)

**Jossi-kun: **Thank you, hope this is soon enough!

**Snowember: **Really, you imagined it this way? Wow, we must be brain twins. :D Glad you like it!

**Jimmy Candlestick: **Thanks! Sorry if it's confusing, and if you want me to clarify don't hesitate to ask. :)


	6. Chapter 5

Hello my freaky darlings! Yes yes, that _is_ Skinner's line, but I just love it too much. :D

important!AN: All right, I'm about halfway through Snakehead (don't tell me the end please – I don't own it and I have to keep reading short bits at a time…there's so many holds on it at my library :(), and I'm at the part where (spoiler warning, if you couldn't tell!) Alex just met Fox again. So I don't know how much Fox, er, Ben Daniels, is involved or, for that matter, the rest of the SAS unit, in that last half of the book. And my Fox is going to be developed a little more in this chapter, so I just want to warn you he may be completely OOC because I really haven't read any of this Ben Daniels. And I already made up my own name for him, so I'm keeping that one.[/important

Anyways, sorry for the delay (and after my first real cliffy, too! –wince-), but I've been swamped with homework, and like I said before I had some of the chapters written out before I started this. This one took me longer to write in general, too, though I'm not really sure why, because it was really more planned than the others…-shrug- oh well. It's done now, though I'm not totally happy with it.

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_He opened his eyes. Snake was staring at him in shock, and his hand jerked, as though he'd made to put it on Alex's shoulder then stopped. Wolf's brow was furrowed, and Alex could see a question forming on his mouth. Eagle just looked confused._

_The teen swallowed. "His name was John Rider."_

Predictably, Eagle voiced his thoughts out loud. "Rider - wait, that's…shit." If Alex hadn't been going through a roller coaster ride of emotions, he would've smirked. As it was he was fighting off the urge to retreat to his room for the rest of the evening.

"So you're…" Wolf's voice was quiet, and Alex might have even considered it 'gentle' if it weren't for the glaringly obvious fact that disproved this theory – 'Wolf' and 'gentle' in the same sentence.

"He was my dad, yeah." The teen tried a wry smile, but it didn't come close to his eyes. "MI6 didn't pick me up randomly off the street."

There was an awkward silence as the three men realized what they had been so casually discussing moments before. "Sorry, Cub," Eagle said quietly.

Alex just shrugged. "'sokay. You didn't know," he replied instantly, but his words sounded hollow.

Wolf sat back with a low whistle, shaking his head. "You're just full of surprises, you know that?" He sounded disgruntled, as though it was Alex's fault.

Wolf didn't like surprises.

"Alex?" Snake said tentatively. The teen blinked, surprised at being addressed by his real name, but met Snake's eyes steadily. "Why do you work for them? I mean, even if your dad did, it always seems like you…don't really want to."

Alex frowned slightly, thinking; he'd never explained his unique situation with MI6 to anyone before. Lying was out of the question. He could always not answer – Snake didn't seem as though he was going to push it. And yet…for some reason he felt like he owed them an honest answer. They'd never pried before, anyways, and he knew they'd wanted to.

"I grew up with Jack and my uncle," he admitted slowly, eyes dropping despite himself – the table seemed to be exerting some magnetic pull over them. "And my uncle was a spy, too, though I didn't know it until he was killed." He shifted uncomfortably. Alex didn't like to think about that, because he didn't like to think about Yassen Gregorovich, because he never knew what the hellto think about Yassen. "In his will, my uncle left me to 'the bank', and they found out that my uncle had been training me, and…well." It was completely silent in the kitchen. Alex dragged his eyes up from the countertop.

"So they made you do it," Eagle said flatly. The change in his face was startling; his face looked nearly as hard and emotionless as it had when he'd been fighting Scorpia.

Alex kept his eyes up as he answered, but his voice still quiet. "They…I mean, they _are _my legal guardians…and…."

"And what?" Snake asked sharply, and Alex detachedly noted the absurd resemblance of his tone to that of a parent demanding information from an unruly child – something he'd always watched with interest from the sidelines.

"Jack's visa," he said simply. "She's from America." There had been a mention of boarding school, too, at the beginning, but it seemed like a petty worry now.

"This is ridiculous," Eagle burst out. "More than that, it's, it's…not right," he finished lamely.

"It's _blackmail_ is what it is," Wolf growled. "I can't believe this."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "If you haven't noticed, MI6 isn't very concerned with being _fair_," he said dryly.

Wolf didn't reply, but he still looked upset. Alex had realized earlier that Wolf seemed to follow MI6's orders to the letter more than any of the other men, and he wondered if the man was upset to hear his superiors being talked about in such a way.

"What do they make you do?" Snake asked persistently, leaning forward. "The Point Blanc thing was a one time only, right? I mean, no one suspected that was going to be that dangerous, anyways." He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

Alex frowned. He didn't want to answer that one. He racked his mind, and then suddenly realized that there was already an excuse incredibly handy. "I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you that."

Eagle made an exasperated noise, and looked like he was going to push it, but stopped at a look from Wolf.

Wolf looked at him appraisingly. Alex could read his face easily; it said, 'we'll talk about this later'. For the time being, however, the men obviously understood Alex's discomfort and let the subject drop.

If this was their reaction to hearing about how _MI6_ had treated him, Alex didn't want to see how overprotective they would get when they heard about any of his _real_ enemies….

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_I never knew getting shot in the heart could be so handy_, Alex thought wryly as his history teacher's face softened upon giving him a look-over. Mr. Jackson was the third teacher to receive Alex's 'doctor's note' today, and, fortunately, the third to buy it. Alex still had a genuinely pale look and was very much still recovering; he'd lost a little weight and muscle from all his time in bed, too. Even his peers had begun to believe his sick excuse, something that had never happened before.

But Alex had been uncomfortable all day long. Something was different, but he was sure the school hadn't changed. The hallways with the dull navy carpet were the same. Aside from new haircuts, his classmates all looked the way he remembered them. His algebra teacher still forgot to check half of his homework and his English teacher was still lecturing about iambic pentameter.

No, Alex knew what had changed, and it certainly wasn't Brooklands.

He diligently took clear, neat notes as his teacher talked about the Battle of Hastings, and when Mr. Jackson called on him suddenly he gave the correct answer – "The battle took place in 1066, sir" – and his teacher seemed pleased. But his heart wasn't in it. Listening to the slightly melancholy sound of rain drumming steadily on the roof, Alex wished he could be absorbed with school as he used to be.

The bell rang and Alex packed up his books, swinging his backpack over his shoulder as he walked out the door. His next class was in another building, so he swerved towards the doors to the outside in the hallway. They opened as he walked up to them, and a dripping boy entered. The other boy – Richard, one of the boys who was convinced Alex was trying to get attention by skipping school – banged his shoulder into the blonde teen's as he passed, an unpleasant sneer on his face. "Finally decided to get off your high horse and join us, again, Rider?"

Alex regarded him coolly, and opened his mouth to calmly ask the boy how long this was going to take, because he really did need to get to his 4th period, when suddenly an all-too familiar bark sounded in the hallway. "OY!"

Alex jumped, heart pounding, then inwardly cursed his skittishness as he turned – _how_ did Wolf manage to get this reaction out of him every time he used that voice? – to see the leader of the K-Unit, clad in the beige janitor's top, glowering…for once not at him, but at the boy next to him.

"What the hell is this?" Wolf asked furiously, getting in Richard's face. The boy looked terrified, and Alex couldn't blame him. Wolf jabbed a finger at the muddy footprints the boy had left in his wake. "Who do you think cleans that up, punk?"

Alex couldn't help it. A slow grin spread across his face, and a chuckle escaped him. Wolf head swiveled instantly to look at him, clearly in a rotten mood. "What?" He demanded sourly.

Alex just laughed helplessly, shaking his head. Wolf looked as angry as Alex had ever seen him, as angry as he'd been while facing down murdering, villainous criminals. He patted Wolf on the shoulder – the man was as tense as if he was in battle – and told him with mock seriousness, "I think you should reconsider your career choice – custodian doesn't seem like the right occupation for you."

The teen ducked out the door before Wolf could growl a response, wisely deciding that facing the rain was highly preferable to facing a pissed Wolf.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Alex didn't like hospitals. They were either incredibly dull or unbearably scary for seconds of adrenaline rushes…and then back to dullness. He couldn't stand it.

And he'd never thought he'd be back in St. Dominic's so soon! He'd just escaped from this place.

It seemed as though his day was doomed to be boring. The school day had dragged on, Wolf's antics before his 4th period the only thing that had made him smile all day. After the final bell rung he'd gotten into a car with Snake and Wolf, and now they were waiting to be emitted into Fox's room.

Alex sighed, glancing around the waiting room for the K-Unit. Wolf was on the other side of the room, reading some poster on the wall. Snake was leaning against the counter in the corner of the room, chatting casually with the nurse working there. Eagle had taken the Tube over before Alex had gotten out of school, and was apparently already visiting Fox.

There were a couple of other people in the room. A skinny woman with frizzy hair was sitting at a chair in a corner, tapping her foot impatiently – the sound was incredibly annoying. An older lady was asleep three chairs to Alex's right, mouth open slightly. The man reading a paperback two seats to his left looked about 25, and smiled pleasantly over the top of his book at Alex when the teen's gaze drifted towards him. He was apparently an acquaintance of Snake's, because the two had exchanged a friendly greeting when Snake had entered. He nodded at the forgotten newspaper in Alex's hand – the sports section – and said amiably, "Good game, huh?"

Alex blinked. He was introverted by nature – a trait that had only increased with the influences of Ian and MI6 – and the smile-at-a-stranger type of people had always caught him off-guard. He nodded, though, and gave a small, stiff smile in return. "Yeah." The man's attention returned to the book in his hands.

Alex stood and walked to one of the exits. As he passed Wolf, the man frowned at him and opened his mouth, but Alex held up his hands quickly and muttered, "Just going to the bathroom."

He'd better not have to have two SAS men keeping him company to do _that_.

When Alex came back into the waiting room minutes later, Snake and Wolf were gone. He looked around quickly, and took a step towards the door when a nurse bustled over to him. "You're here to see Mr. Moran, too, aren't you?" She didn't wait for his answer. "This way."

With a mental shrug Alex followed her down a corridor. She nodded to a room then left. Alex hesitantly walked toward it, opening it soundlessly and peeking in.

It was definitely Fox's room. Eagle, Snake and Wolf stood around the bed, and Fox was propped up on the pillows. The four men were chatting light-heartedly. To Alex's surprise, the man from the waiting room was sitting at the chair next to the bed.

And he and Fox were holding hands.

Fox noticed him first. His entire face tensed and he dropped the other man's hand so fast Alex wondered if he'd really seen what he'd thought he'd seen. But as the other people in the room turned to face him, one look at their faces confirmed his suspicions. Wolf and Snake were watching him very carefully, and Eagle's eyes had narrowed.

He realized they were worried he was going to lash out. It was only natural, he supposed, with the number of anti-gay people making themselves heard these days. Unsure how to express himself, Alex just gave Fox a tiny smile, trying to convey that he couldn't care less who the man was romantically involved with. Some people liked boys and some people liked girls; it was that simple to Alex.

If the other man in the room had noticed what had gone on, he was very good at hiding it. He favored Alex with a wide smile. "I didn't know you were here to see John, too."

Alex just nodded the affirmative and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and thinking to himself, _John Moran_.

It was only fair, after all; the four of them knew _his_ name.

The man stuck out his hand. "I'm David."

Alex shook his hand briefly. "Alex."

"How was your day at school, honey?" Eagle asked in a falsely high voice, grinning. The others were holding pieces of cake with paper plates and plastic forks; apparently Eagle had picked one up at a grocery store.

Alex gave him an exasperated look while Fox chuckled and pointedly went to stand on the opposite side of the room from K-Unit's youngest member, next to Snake and David. "I did get to see Wolf terrorize a kid for leaving muddy footprints; quite an enjoyable experience, I assure you." Though the SAS were amused by his comment, David looked highly confused.

"Wolf?" he asked incredulously. "But I thought those names were from –"

"That's where _Cub_ knows us from, Dave," Fox said quietly. Apparently David was filled in on the men's occupations…just not Alex's.

David looked at the teen in shock, and Alex, used to this kind of reaction, avoided his gaze, taking that moment to cut off a chunk of the cake for himself.

Eagle frowned suddenly. "Where did my slice of cake go?" He looked around the room, eyes settling on Fox, who looked overly innocent.

"Getting shot works up an appetite," Fox said earnestly, eyes wide, the picture of innocence.

"You _stole_ my _cake_? I thought I ate it when I wasn't paying attention." (1)

Laughter sounded around the room again, and even Alex grinned slightly at Eagle's face.

The teen perched on the broad windowsill, taking a bite of the sugary cake. He was slightly unnerved to realize that he was more comfortable here then he'd been throughout the school day.

The conversation continued and Alex let it wash over him, thinking. He supposed that the reason he was so comfortable among the K-Unit was that it was almost like his 'job' didn't exist among them. They'd grown accustomed to the fact – mostly – and there was no suspicion or false accusations. Alex hadn't realized how much he'd missed being able to not worry about exposing his secret, which felt so glaringly obvious to him and yet was strictly confidential MI6 information. Hell, _Alex_ was strictly confidential MI6 information, and it went a long way to not have to hide it, to shoulder off a bit of the burden.

They left Fox and David a half hour later, leaving Fox some books he'd asked for and the rest of the cake. He was supposed to come back in a couple of days if he continued to recover at this rate, and he seemed quite content. A tight knot of worry Alex had barely been aware of had loosened after seeing Fox sitting up and smiling.

As he got into the backseat of the car and began to buckle himself in, he noticed that Wolf, Snake and Eagle were all just sitting there, looking at him. He sighed and dropped the belt. He couldn't say he hadn't been expecting this at some point.

"Cub," Wolf began, awkwardly, "About Fox and David –" Alex opened his mouth, but Wolf held up a hand. "Let me finish. No one at…work knows about it, okay? And Fox would like to keep it that way," he finished sternly.

"Look," Alex said quickly. "Seriously, it's cool with me. (2)"

Eagle clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man."

Wolf snorted, muttering something about "Man, indeed," as he started the car.

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Meh. I'm not happy with this chapter.

And yeah, about Fox being gay…I'll just say now that by the end of this fic I want to have developed each of the K-Unit a bit. I've already done a little bit of Wolf, and I think I'm going to wrap that up next chapter. But if anyone calls this 'slash' or starts flaming that I made my Fox gay when Fox isn't a developed character _pre_-Snakehead, I will not be happy. :( Sorry to be all mean about this, but I'm just wary. It's probably not a problem with you guys anyways.

(1) A quote stolen my favorite fanfic _ever_. I'll say what that is next chapter…in the mean time, if anyone can tell me where it's from they will officially be my HERO.

(2) lol for some reason as I was typing that it crossed my mind that I can NOT imagine someone saying that in England...it sounds way to Californian. Oh well, I am a California girl, so forgive me if it sounds way off. Heehee.

I was delighted by all of the reviews! First a big THANK YOU! However, unless you asked a question or said something other than, like 'I love K-Unit stories, good job, update soon, stupid cliffy, etc.' I'm not going to reply personally from now on. Please please don't stop though! I most certainly read every one and I love it when I see that I got a new one. :D

**PsychoWing**: Yeah, that was my own twist; I didn't actually semi-rip it off someone else's fic, like I sometimes feel I have for a lot of it.

Actually Fox didn't take a bullet meant for Alex (though he did get shot while protecting Alex, I guess, but not in a direct way), he got hit in the fray when Eagle and Wolf came. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. He still saved Alex's life, though. And your comment still amused me lol.

**Neptunian Diamond**: I don't take any offense, and I understand. Thanks for the review. :)

**Silver Queen**: I dunno, I thought about it for a little while, and I agree that John Rider's double-life is still most certainly classified information, but the K-Unit _are_ members of a very elite part of the government, and I think they might need to know about it if they're going up against Scorpia to fully grasp the situation/relationship between MI6 and Scorpia. I can understand your doubt, though; good thing for me it's fanfiction! ;)

**Pan06**: I can't stand it when Alex is a superspy in fanfic either; it drives me crazy! You put it perfectly (I really like the word reticent, by the way – yay new vocab :)). And yeah, Alex is beginning to trust them more, which _should_ show up in this chapter a little – patting Wolf on the shoulder, feeling comfortable in Fox's hospital room, and stuff like that. That's my intention, anyways.


	7. Chapter 6

Hey all:D

OXFORD. MONKEYWRENCH. AARDVARK. CHECK PLEASE. Er, I mean, getting down to the first and foremost order of business: that cake quote last chapter was from the wonderful, amazing-beyond-words Shoebox Project, a Harry Potter fanfic about James, Lily, Remus, Sirius and Peter during their Hogwarts days on livejournal by laidyjaida and dorkorific. It has a bit of a cult following – because it is AMAZING. Seriously. Google shoebox project, go down to the bottom of the page, hit 'earlier' to get to part one, and read. Now, please. :)

Also, in response in Mordecai the Batman's review, I realize that people might have been offended by Fox wanting to hide his sexuality from his superiors last chapter, and I hope it's clear that I didn't put that in because I thought Fox would be kicked out of the SAS or anything, only that Fox himself would like to keep it private.

So, this chapter! It's not exactly a filler, more like a…I need to get some plot things down before I can go back to K-Unit Alex banter. It's also one of those lame 'and then time passed' chapters. Anyways, I apologize for the lower humor level. It'll come back, I promise!

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Alex couldn't sleep.

He was warm enough – the heavy quilt on the bed was fine. He was tired enough – he stayed up a little late the night before doing a world history project. There wasn't anything troubling him – well, actually, there was Scorpia (Alex's stomach gave a little jump at the thought, a feeling that was becoming disturbingly familiar) but there was also a unit of highly trained, efficient and armed SAS men just on the other side of his door.

He'd had a quiet evening after returning from the hospital. He'd done his homework and worked on some things he needed to finish from past absences, eaten the take-out food supplied by Eagle and played a couple of card games with Snake. He didn't have a sense of unfinished business about the day, or something preying on his mind from the events of the day that might keep him awake. So why wouldn't his eyes stay closed?

He sighed and rolled over. Truth to be told, he knew the answer. He wanted to be home. Yes, he was back in London, and it looked like he'd actually be staying here for a little while. Yes, he was back in Brooklands, doing the same old school things. But he wasn't really _home_, not yet. To Alex, it felt like the Scorpia mission had never really ended – he'd just gone from Invisible Sword to being freaking _shot_ to the hospital and now to various homes of SAS men, trying not to panic about the constant fear of assassination. He just wanted to be back in Chelsea, laughing with Jack…and waiting for his uncle to come home.

Alex sat up quickly at the thought, angry with himself. He needed to do something so he would forgot he'd ever thought it, because it was _stupid_; Uncle Ian was not coming back.

He pushed the comforters off and pulled a sweatshirt on before slipping out of the room. About to step into the kitchen, he heard voices and hesitated, listening intently.

"- housekeeper called again," Eagle was saying. "She's persistent."

Alex could hear the frown in Snake's voice. "Scorpia can't –"

"Relax," Eagle said quickly. "MI6 gave her my cell phone number. As in, not my work phone. Being the number that you guys don't even have."

"How does MI6 have it?" Wolf asked, sounding curious.

Eagle gave a disgruntled sigh. "That was my question too."

There was a comfortable silence in the kitchen. Alex was dying to ask why he couldn't talk to Jack – for that was, of course, who must have called – but was sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"Whatcha reading?" Snake asked after a moment.

It was Wolf who answered. "An old favorite. I just brought it out for later –" He stopped suddenly, taking in a sharp breath. The book fell to the floor.

"Wh-" Snake started to ask, but he was cut off by a yell from Wolf, loud and livid.

"_CUB!"_

Alex froze. Had Wolf realized he was eavesdropping? Why was he so angry? Before he his brain had figured out what to do, Wolf was suddenly in front of him, looking angrier than Alex had ever seen him face to face.

The man stopped quickly, briefly surprised to find Alex in the hallway. The emotion passed quickly, however, and the anger was back in full force. He was brandishing something in Alex's face. "What – _damn_ _it_, kid, why – " He didn't seem to be able to finish his sentences.

The teen tore his eyes off Wolf's clenched fist and onto the object in front of his face. When Alex saw what it was, he blanched.

The funeral card for Lucas Marez.

Again unsure of what to think, Alex's brain automatically put together the facts. He recalled putting the card in a book on Wolf's bedside table and Wolf's suspicious look when he'd first come back to his house. Clearly the man had figured out that Alex had been snooping around his house.

The teen opened his mouth, but nothing came out. A horrible guilt washed over him as he saw the face of that little boy in front of him again – a boy who'd never reached his ninth birthday.

"_Why would you go looking –_" The man made a noise of sheer frustration, and turned, hitting the wall solidly. Alex quickly took a step back, eyes wary.

"Gabe –" Snake was standing behind Wolf, and put a hand on his shoulder. Wolf passed a hand over his face, and took a deep, shuddering breath.

Alex had always been good at reading people. And most of the time, Wolf wasn't all that difficult to read. It was clear to Alex now that Wolf was not just angry – he was sad. It was a old sadness rooted so deeply in his character that Alex had never noticed before. The new knowledge gave Alex the strength to swallow and whisper, "Sorry."

Wolf didn't move. Carefully Snake took the card from his suddenly slack grip, and he frowned as he read, showing it silently to Eagle, who was looking over his shoulder. After a pregnant pause, Snake asked gently, "Were you close?"

Wolf nodded, removing his hand from his eyes and staring at the wall. "My nephew," he said hoarsely. "I have other nephews and nieces but his dad and I are close…Luke was my godson," he finished quietly. His voice had taken on a hollow quality, and Alex wondered if he'd ever talked about it with anyone. There was a heavy pause, an unspoken question in the air. Wolf slowly met Snake's eyes, answering the question emotionlessly. "Leukemia."

Alex swallowed again, polite, meaningless condolences dying at his lips. Snake squeezed Wolf's shoulder in a silent gesture of support, and Eagle gave him a one-armed hug. The man barely seemed to notice and moved off to his room without meeting Alex's eyes.

Snake, Eagle and Alex looked helplessly at each other and moved off to their own separate tasks. No one spoke.

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Over the next couple of days, amidst the worry of Scorpia, the spontaneity of Alex's relationship with the K-Unit and the stress of trying to catch up with his schoolwork, the unthinkable happened: normality.

Well, as normal as Alex's life could get at this point. Which, in all honesty, wasn't saying much.

Still, there was no call from MI6 to fly off to some distant country to dodge bullets for hours and miraculously stumble upon the answer to a mystery. The suspicious looks from Alex's teachers and peers all but disappeared. Alex's grades did not take any sudden dips. The doctor said Alex could play football again, though he shouldn't tax himself too much, and Alex was tentatively enjoying the practices.

And best of all, there wasn't even a whisper from Scorpia. Though to be honest, that was rather scary, too; it felt like something was going to happen any day. But since Alex had begun to work for MI6, he'd understood not to take a chance to immerse himself in Brooklands again for granted, and he planned to make the most of it while he still could. He threw himself into extra credit projects, studied long hours in bed by flashlight and went out of his way to be friendly to his old friends. If the K-Unit noticed, they chose not to say anything.

School itself, however, was still not as enjoyable for Alex. There was just something _off_ about being back at Brooklands, like there was something he'd forgotten to do before his return. It was weighing down on him, though it barely showed outwardly. He almost wanted to talk to Tom about it… talk to Tom about _everything_ and just get it out there to someone. But he couldn't bring himself to burden Tom with tales of his exploits – it was the same reason why he never wanted to go in detail about his missions with Jack like he used to.

No one mentioned the incident of Wolf's outburst to Alex again, except for a quick, quiet inquiry from Snake as to where Alex had found the funeral card. The teen guessed that Snake had put the card exactly where Alex had found it when Wolf hadn't been looking.

Wolf – _Gabe Marez_, Alex thought to himself – acted, for the most part, like it hadn't happened. For a day or so after he seemed a little distant to Alex, but the teen didn't mind. He felt like he deserved it for bringing the painful matter to the surface, and was grateful that Wolf had let it drop – Alex wasn't sure he would've in Wolf's position.

On Friday afternoon Snake was waiting outside school after the bell rang. Alex looked at him curiously – usually Eagle walked him to the car while Wolf got the engine going, so they spent as little time in the open as possible.

"Fox's coming out of the hospital today," Snake explained as the teen reached him. He looked nervous about something. "Eagle took the car."

They were taking the Tube? Alex felt a prickling of unease, and the two of them began walking off quickly, in silent agreement to stay within the crowd of students.

Suddenly a small girl in the uniform of the Brooklands' neighboring kindergarten came running from the crowd, shrieking, "Uncle Kyle! Uncl' Kyle!" She sprinted right at Snake, who shot Alex an apologetic look before turning to the girl and lifting her into his arms, spinning her around while she laughed boisterously. A tiny, tender smile worked its way onto Snake's face, and Alex shifted awkwardly.

"Sophie," Snake said to the girl, putting her down. "I have to go now, okay?"

The girl – she looked about 4 to Alex – pouted and opened her mouth to complain, but a slim blonde woman suddenly appeared at her side and asked quickly, "Kyle?" She sounded confused.

"Janet," Snake said, talking fast and urgently, glancing at Alex. "I have to go. Now."

The woman gave Alex a fast, intensely curious look, but nodded, pulling the girl away.

"C'mon," Snake muttered to Alex, and they both started out for the station. The crowd around them had thinned.

"Sorry about that," Snake said to Alex without pausing his stride. "My niece goes to school there…I was hoping she wouldn't run into us."

Alex just nodded, privately still a little unbalanced by the display of affection between Snake and the child. It was hard to think of the K-Unit as men who had families and lives beyond the SAS, but recently Alex had been learning more about their lives than he'd ever imagined he would. In fact, he probably knew them better than he did any of his peers at Brooklands…

…and vice versa. _Now_ there's_ a scary thought_, the teen mused.

Snake was picking up speed now, and Alex had to lengthen his stride to keep up with the taller man. What was the hurry? They were nearly at the station now.

Alex glanced over his shoulder, and what he saw made his mouth go dry.

Two men were separating themselves from the other people on the streets by their quickened pace and official air. Alex had a hard time keeping himself from breaking into a dead sprint at the sight. Suddenly, Snake's arm shot out and grabbed Alex shoulder, and he found himself turning and running down a narrow opening between two shops. A firm weight on his shoulder shoved him behind the corner of the building on the left, and Alex pressed himself against the wall, looking sideways at Snake.

Snake whirled around – presumably to face the two men who Alex was sure had followed them. The teen could only see Snake standing in the middle of the alley, his face pale and calculating, legs braced. His hand was on his holster.

Alex heard the all too-recognizable sound of a gun clicked into position from the other end of the alley, but Snake had made no move to pull his own gun. Then a familiar voice growled assertively, _"Get out." _Wolf.

A tense moment passed, and then Snake relaxed slightly and nodded jerkily at Alex. The teen came out from around the corner warily, watching the rooftops, but he couldn't see Scorpia's men anywhere. The three rushed to the Tube, and submerged themselves in the jostling crowd within the station.

It was as they were on the train back to Wolf's apartment that Alex made a split-second decision. As the train took a sharp turn, Alex pretended to stumble slightly so that he was next to Snake and in a flash slipped his gun from his holster – the man had helpfully loosened it in the alley - and stuck it in his belt. Already bumped by the many other passengers on the train, Snake didn't even notice the slight pressure as the gun was tugged free.

Alex pulled his sweatshirt down over the gun, and the bulge was hidden fairly well – the gun was very small as guns went.

The train screeched to a halt, and Snake, Wolf and Alex joined stepped out and walked up to street level. The cool metal of the handgun rubbed unpleasantly against Alex's skin as he climbed the stairs.

Fox and Eagle were waiting in the car for them as soon as they walked into the sunlight, and Alex found himself once again crammed into a not-so-large car with four SAS men. Eagle pushed the petal down and they sped off towards Wolf's apartment.

"What took you guys so long?" Fox demanded, glancing at Wolf.

"The usual," Wolf answered dryly, making Fox frown.

"Two of them cornered me and Cub in an alley," Snake began, running a hand through his hair. "Then Wolf pulled a gun on them from behind and they ran,"

"I can't say I blame them for running," Eagle muttered. At Alex's confused glance, he shrugged. "What? Wolf is _scary_. I mean, turning around and seeing Wolf behind you, ready to kill? I'd run."

"He'd scream like a little girl," Fox added in an undertone to Alex. "Trust me – I've seen it."

"Are you referring to that incident in Bangkok?" Eagle demanded. "I did _not_ scream."

"Really?" Snake asked. "My ears must be going bad pretty early then."

Eagle looked miffed, though to his credit he kept his eyes on the road. "I was merely…shouting with purpose." If he noticed Fox's stifled snort of disbelief, Eagle did a good job pretending he hadn't. "Ga-Wolf didn't look like himself with the disguise, anyway."

"I never thought shouting was so high-pitched," Wolf muttered, making Snake grin.

Alex's lips twitched.

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"Oy, Cub!" Wolf's voice came in clear and loud even through Alex's firmly closed bedroom door. "You ever gonna eat?"

Alex blinked - he'd forgotten all about dinner – and glanced at the clock: 7:48 PM. Come to think of it, he was a little hungry. "In a minute," he called back, touching up his essay. Was that a comma splice?

He shook his head and put the paper down, rubbing his eyes. Alex knew he should take a break; his neat handwriting was beginning to spin before his eyes, and his stomach felt unpleasantly light. Why was he working on the darn thing anyways? It was the weekend, and Alex felt like he should be doing what other kids did on Friday nights…whatever _that_ was. Go to the movies? 'Hang out'? He gave a disgruntled sigh as he left the bedroom.

The teen walked into the kitchen stretching, opened the fridge and took out the leftover Chow Mein from yesterday's take-out. It was only after he closed the fridge door with his foot and snatched a fork from an open drawer that he noticed that all four members of the K-Unit were watching him.

And they were all quiet. _That_ couldn't be normal.

He put down the fork. "What?"

Fox sighed, running a hand through his red hair. "Cub…Dave's a psychologist, and I talked to him about you…you know, about your job and how you're handling it." The man looked at him awkwardly from under his bangs. "He thinks you need to talk about it with someone."

"Talk about what, exactly?" Alex asked stiffly, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already.

Eagle crossed his arms. "What you do on these missions."

"I'm not sure if –" Alex began, but Wolf cut him off.

"You already fed us that excuse," he said sourly. "Personally, I don't give a damn if MI6 thinks it's confidential anymore."

Alex picked up his fork again and took a bite of the noodles to give himself time to think, blinking when he realized he'd never put in the microwave. Slowly he put the fork down, and opened the microwave, deep in thought. After setting the time – intentionally making it a little long, as he knew from experience the microwave really needed to be retired – he turned back to the men and sat down heavily at the counter. "Fine," he said resignedly.

"Cub, we really –" Wolf began, then stopped. "Wait, you'll tell us?"

Alex propped his chin up with a hand, surveying the four of them in the cramped kitchen and dimly wondering how he'd ever gotten in this position – it still felt unreal, being so open with the K-Unit of all people. Part of him wanted to put up a fight, but he was so _tired_ after the stressful week, and he didn't have the strength to be wary and watchful and careful with his words and actions…like he was _supposed_ to be. He was a _spy_, for crying out loud. His uncle would no doubt have been disappointed.

"I suppose I owe you," he admitted, eyes drifting from Wolf to Fox's bandaged arm. He felt trapped, and wanted nothing more than to eat his Chow Mein and curl up in bed with a book. Resisting the urge to sigh, he met their eyes. "What do you want to know?"

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Hoo boy I am getting bad with those cliffies. It wasn't because I wanted to torture you, I promise, it's because I have a history test tomorrow….

As usual, thanks for the reviews. Do you guys have any idea how happy it makes me to see that little review alert email in my inbox? Well, actually, you probably do. :D Anyways, yeah, same thing as last time; if I don't reply to your review it's not because I didn't appreciate it, it's just because there's not really a specific question or something that needs to be addressed. I definitely still appreciate them:)

**SheWeapon1**: Haha I'm pretty sure people in England do, too, it's just…I'm being horribly shallow and stereotyping here, but it always seems like the English just…wouldn't say that. Hee.

Yes, Alex is going to be sharing details about his missions…we'll see how much. The Scorpia one is still a rather touchy matter for him, I'd imagine.

**Hakumele**: I swear, I'm going to write more janitor!Wolf soon. It just didn't make its way into this chapter…I need more humor, I know, it's not very balanced right now. It's like plot stuff! then nothing happening except jokes. :/ Sorry bout that.

**Lost Animus**: Ha yes someone can understand! Lol I'm from The Bay, so I have problems keeping Alex from saying 'hella' too…;)

**Alatariel Palantir**: I can understand if you didn't like it; it felt a tad bit strange to me at first, because the Alex Rider books are really…uncomplicated lol. But I dunno, it's just something that kind of came out while I was writing and I liked it. Anyways, it's not going to be a central detail (I highly doubt David's coming back – or if he is, not for long) or the focus of the story.

And I apologize if I came off as defensive; I don't want to make people think they can't share comments like yours without me being offended.

**Babu'sbff**: I thought Tom was coming into this chapter…and then he didn't. Huh. He's coming soon, I promise. :)

**Mordecai the Barman**: Whoa, I'm really sorry if I came off that way. Like I said in my AN, it's just because it's a sensitive topic to Fox, not because he'll be kicked out or anything. Thanks for pointing that out though, and I sincerely hope that you or anyone else weren't offended.


	8. Chapter 7

Hello again, everyone!

This plot is moving quite sluggishly, and I apologize.

ETA: GAH I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING. Thanks to Hakumele for catching it: where did Snake get the name Conrad from:headdesk: I edited this part out and now I have to put it back in...sorry about that, guys.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

_I suppose I owe you," he admitted, eyes drifting from Wolf to Fox's bandaged arm. He felt trapped, and wanted nothing more than to eat his Chow Mein and curl up in bed with a book. Resisting the urge to sigh, he met their eyes. "What do you want to know?"_

Fox took the initiative. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"No shit?" Eagle looked surprised. "I would've guessed sixteen."

Alex frowned. "And you've been to my school? Did you think I was held back or something?"

Eagle held up his hands, clearly trying to hold back a grin. "I just thought it would be polite to _not_ mention that you might not, you know, be the sharpest tool in the shed." Alex didn't dignify that with a response.

"Wait," Snake broke in, frowning. "This isn't about us learning what we want to know. This is about Cub talking about these missions with people who can understand."

Alex highly doubted that.

"Of course," Eagle agreed quickly.

"Definitely," Fox echoed breezily.

"What kinds of weapons do you they give you?" Eagle asked excitedly, not missing a beat. Snake gave him a disapproving look.

"Er." He shrugged. "Nothing all _that_ dangerous…gadgets from Smithers, mostly."

"Smithers?" Wolf asked.

Alex waved the question away. "A friend of mine in MI6," he answered casually, smiling a little. It was incredibly refreshing to know something they didn't, in a childish way. It was also kind of nice to know that he could honestly say he had a friend in MI6. _A _friend. Singular, not plural. But still.

"So…you don't get a gun?" Snake pressed. Alex shook his head. "You've never gotten one?"

Alex hesitated and frowned, eyes meeting Snake's for a moment. "I…got taught how to shoot," he muttered, uncomfortable. "But that's a whole different story."

There was a pause as the K-Unit digested the new information. The microwave beeped, and all four of them jumped, much to Alex's private amusement. Fox wordlessly handed over the Chinese take-out box and Alex began to eat, to all appearances completely at ease with the situation.

"Do you ever have a partner, or do you always go solo?" Fox asked after a moment.

Alex swallowed. "Once I worked with two CIA agents."

Wolf looked intrigued, and was watching him carefully. "Were they good?"

"I suppose so…I never really got a chance to know them all that well," Alex answered, thinking about his old 'parents'. It was a shame really; if he hadn't known Carver and Troy from the job Alex was pretty sure he would've liked them.

Eagle nodded. "I know how that goes," he said sympathetically. Alex nearly choked on his noodles, looking in surprise to the tall man. Eagle had experience with people he worked with dying on him? That was unexpected. "They acted all stiff the whole time cause they were on the job, right?"

"No," Alex said quickly, eyes dropping. He felt a need to correct the man, but the truth came out reluctantly. "No, they were fine, I guess. They ended up dead pretty fast though."

"Let me get this straight," Wolf said quickly, looking slightly frustrated. "You get sent on a mission with two CIA agents. Then they both die on the job."

"Well." Alex frowned. "That's putting it a bit simply, but yes, that's essentially how it went."

"How did they die? And MI6 called you back after that, right?" Snake asked hurriedly.

Alex poked at the contents of the take-out box. "It's kind of a long story. Could we talk about a different mission?"

Fox crossed his arms. "What's wrong with that one?"

The teen scowled at him. "Because I had a nasty run-in with Conrad at the end of that one," he answered tersely. Alex wished they would ask about Stormbreaker. Or Point Blanc. Or even the whole Damien Cray thing…he'd even slightly prefer explaining Sabina to them than Sarov's…'fatherly affections'.

Slightly.

"Conrad…Conrad…," Snake muttered, trying to remember something. Suddenly he asked sharply, "He's not talking about Frankenstein, is he?"

"_You_ had a run-in with the trigger happy poster-boy for bad surgery?" Fox asked, shocked.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "That certainly sounds like Conrad."

Eagle shuddered. "Well, _I've_ never met the guy…and I plan to keep it that way."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Alex said blandly, getting up and reaching for a glass.

"You killed him?" Wolf was frowning, and Alex vividly remembered that Wolf had been there when he'd killed Grief.

"No," Alex said defensively as he filled the glass with tap water. "…but he is dead."

"Enough hints," Wolf growled. "Explain this one from the start."

Alex groaned inwardly and sat down heavily, feeling his frustration building. How had he ended up in this spot? Damn MI6. He began to reel off the events of the mission, remaining emotionally unattached and covering it all in broad strokes, as though it had happened to someone else.

Their interruptions were not helpful.

"A _shark_?! What the hell?!"

"What kind of shark?"

"Great White."

"Of course. _Of course_ it was a Great White! We should've have known the answer to that question – what kind of shark would make this situation as ludicrously dangerous as possible? You are just a magnet for trouble, kid. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were making – "

"Shut up and let the kid talk, Eagle."

And then again later:

"Stupid security guard."

"Oh yeah Fox, if _I _were a security guard and some kid started shouting about working for MI6, I'd let him have the phone. You see that every da-"

"Shut up, Eagle."

And again….

"Wait. So he freaking _handcuffed_ you near a _nuclear bomb_ he planned to set off and left you to _die_…but you're standing in this kitchen right now…?!"

"Well - I still had the bubblegum from Smithers that-"

"Oh, _riight_. You had bubblegum. How could I have been worried? _Cub_ didn't worry, he was just like, 'Yeah this is some serious shit…but no worries, I have bubble-'"

"_Eagle._ Shut. Up."

But as Alex neared the end of his tale, he faltered. No one was interrupting him now, and yet the teen wished Eagle would make some stupid comment again. Instead he was looking concerned, and listening intently, like the others – it only made it harder to continue.

"And then…Conrad," Alex stopped, closing his eyes for a second. He didn't want to talk about this. He could still see the man's ugly face looming over him, could still feel the smarting blows dealt to his body.

"I think we can figure out what happened next on our own," Wolf said quietly, arms crossed loosely as he leaned against the wall.

But Alex shook his head, still not quite able to meet their eyes, but determined to make his point all the same. "I'm not ashamed of it – he was a much better fighter than I am." Fox shifted uncomfortably, and Eagle's eyes darkened. "I ended up with him strangling me, but the crane was coming over…" The teen's eyes were dark as he looked out the small window. "There was so much metal in him that the magnet sucked him up right away. It was…appalling."

They didn't shudder or look disgusted or blanch. They were silent, regarding him coolly, taking it in stride without a blink – and at that moment, Alex couldn't express how grateful he was for that reaction. There was certainly no one else he could talk to about this; how could he possibly tell Tom or Jack about Conrad's horrific end?

Alex took a deep breath continued, his voice getting quieter. He told about stopping the bomb and then suddenly finding himself face to face with Sarov once more. "I told him…exactly how I felt about being adopted by him." He winced slightly. "It drove him over the edge." His voice stopped, and he closed his eyes briefly, trying to regain his confident demeanor. It was much harder to keep up than he'd expected.

"He shot himself," Wolf supplied gruffly. It wasn't a question. Alex affirmed the statement with a nod, looking at them warily to see how they were going to take it.

There was a heavy silence. Snake glanced at Fox, and they shared an unreadable look, Snake frowning a little, before Fox turned back to Alex. "Sorry, Cub," he said quietly.

Looking at their pitying faces, Alex snapped. "For what? Sorry for making me tell you? I appreciated the sentiment, but it's a little late now." His voice was harsher than he'd intended, and to his horror he didn't seem to be able to stop the next sentence that popped out of his mouth. "Or are you just sorry for me in general?" He drew in a quick breath, shocked that he'd actually said that out loud.

Though the others shifted from foot to foot or looked away, Wolf seemed completely unfazed by Alex's outburst. "Yes," he said clearly, meeting Alex's eyes steadily. "When I first met you? I was a tad too busy being infuriated. At Point Blanc? Yes. And when I got debriefed for this mission, when I got told that you'd been shot in the chest and that I had to protect you from being shot again? Yes, I am sorry for you." He shrugged, hands in his pockets, and then added firmly, "Get over it."

Alex didn't know how to respond to that, so he just kept his mouth shut, nodded, and left, taking the food with him to eat alone.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Alex was brushing his teeth and in his pajamas as he heard two people approaching the bathroom. He turned off the tap briefly to catch what they were saying. "…really, I'm _fine,_" Fox was saying, but Wolf spoke over him as he came into view.

"Cub. Fox needs the extra bed – doctor wasn't keen on him sleeping on the floor." Alex blinked, and then remembered that Eagle and Snake had been sleeping in the living room in sleeping bags when they hadn't been on watch.

"Oh. Right," he said, drying his face with the towel.

Fox, standing behind the doorway, sounded disgruntled. "I'm always hoping you'll cut me some slack, and now you're coddling me."

"Do my ears deceive me?" Eagle, as usual, jumped into the conversation without an invitation, his voice layered with theatrical disbelief. "Our Wolf-man has coddling capabilities?"

Alex brushed past Wolf, who looked like he was fighting to not roll his eyes, to grab his stuff from the guest room. It seemed like the K-Unit was going to act like the scene in the kitchen hadn't happened, which was a little surprising. He wasn't quite sure what they'd accomplished with that little talk – it had possibly satisfied their curiosity for the time being, but Alex was sure they had more questions.

He picked up the book he was reading from the small bedside table and grabbed the backpack with his extra clothes. Moving into the living room, Alex plopped his stuff on one end of the couch, surveying the sleeping bags. There were three, each a uniform navy blue, with uniform navy blue pillows that did not look all that comfortable. Glancing at his watch – 10:47 PM – he sighed and got into a sleeping bag at one end.

It was going to be a long night.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Someone was moving around. A dimmed light pressed against his eyelids. Alex felt himself groggily moving toward consciousness, out of dreamland. As though from far away, he heard someone mutter, "He doesn't look all that tough when he's asleep, huh?"

A foot came down near Alex's head and he started, opening his eyes and sitting bolt upright. Snake and Eagle were climbing into the other sleeping bags, holding flashlights (1) and looking alarmed at his sudden movement.

"Christ, kid, calm down," Snake said quietly. "We're just coming back from watch." Alex let out a deep breath and fell back on to the pillow, feeling utterly spent. It had taken him a long time to drift off to sleep in the empty living room – the conversation from earlier had been haunting his thoughts.

There was a minute or so of silence, before Eagle remarked suddenly, "I still can't believe Wolf gave a _speech_."

Snake snorted softly. "Me neither. I don't think I've ever heard him talk for that long."

"How long have you guys worked together anyways?" Alex asked groggily. He hadn't really meant to ask the question out loud, though it had been in his thoughts for some time.

"Fox, Wolf and I were put together oh…three years ago? And we knew each other before that, from training," Snake replied.

"Really?" Alex didn't bother trying to hide his surprise.

"Yep," Snake said with a yawn. "They put you in teams while you're still new recruits, pretty much. And Eagle was an unfortunate addition added a year ago."

"Hey," Eagle protested, but without heat. "I dunno what you did without me, anyways…."

"Those were the good old days," Snake replied easily. "Life was better then."

"Bastard."

"Yank."

"Yank?" Alex questioned, intrigued. "Really?"

"Yes," Eagle answered shortly.

Alex dropped that subject, but another question leaped to his mind. "But if you've been a team so long, why were you at Brecon Beacons?"

"We screwed something up and got sent through some more rounds of training." Eagle sounded slightly disgruntled. "It was a joint punishment and brush-up – we didn't have to do the full six months again though, thank God. (2)"

"So you already knew everything?" Alex asked, incredulous, and feeling more awake now. "You already knew how to parachute and all that?"

Snake lowered his voice. "Yeah. Wolf just had had a…near-accident with parachuting a few weeks prior to that…."

"It's probably why they put you with us, actually," Eagle mused. "We were less likely to get you killed than the others, because we'd done it before."

"Probably," Alex said flatly. _And they'd be more pissed at getting a fourteen year-old stuck on to them, because they'd done it before._

Silence fell after that, and this time it wasn't broken. It was a long time before Alex finally drifted off to sleep again, thoughts even more muddled than before.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The weekend dragged. Alex barely left the house, spending most of the time cooped up indoors. He finished most of his homework on Saturday afternoon and spent his free time reading – Wolf had a surprisingly good collection of novels that he lent Alex freely.

On Saturday evening Eagle's cell phone buzzed. He looked at it briefly, and then walked out of earshot before answering. Alex's eyes followed him out.

"Why can't I talk to Jack?" He blurted out, looking at the other men.

"They said so," Wolf replied.

Alex's eyebrows rose. "And you do everything they say," he said dryly, watching Wolf.

Wolf shrugged, deliberately nonchalant. "They seem to think you'll get ideas about running away." Alex flushed slightly. "You haven't done that lately, have you?"

Eagle walked back into the room and turned to Wolf. "She wants to talk to one of us in person," he said awkwardly.

"Why?"

"Don't look at me," Eagle said quickly. "Apparently we could be 'deceiving' her on the phone."

Wolf rubbed his temple. "Great."

"You must sound like a deceiving person, Eagle," Fox told the tall man, lips twitching.

Eagle looked indignant. "When have I ever deceived you?"

"Eagle, you go," Wolf said, over whatever reply Fox had been about to give – clearly it didn't matter to him. "Just...at a café somewhere, or something. This doesn't need to be a big deal. Just reassure her Cub's fine." Alex opened his mouth. "You're not going," Wolf told him sternly.

Eagle nodded and left, picking up the phone again.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

(1) In Europe they're called torches, right?…to me a torch is like, a piece of wood that's on fire, but…yeah.

(2) Wikipedia says the training takes six months. I'm making up that thing about them going back for extra training, though. :shrug:

Review are wonderful, amazing things - thanks to everyone! Again, only replying to specific question/addresses, still appreciate them all, yadda yadda you're probably really bored of that little speech.

**Von: **Your metaphor skills are impressive. :D And yeah, I see your point...Alex is planning on asking that question, I mean, I'm planning on having Alex ask that question soon, too, but it's probably still ridiculous. Sorry. :/

**PsychoWing**: Shhhh, you're not supposed to notice that. ;)

**cullen-o-mania**: Profile? Oh, right, profile...heh, too lazy. I've filled out too many internet profiles...maybe someday.

**Hakumele**: Yeah, Snake pretty much didn't want _anyone_ associated with his job to have any connections to his family...Alex respected that and kept his distance. I have lots of fun imagining 'Uncle Snake' though, so Sophie may return...we'll see. :)

**ThReE AqUiLa**: Maybe some more about Snake's, because they're close by. As revealed in this chapter, Eagle comes from the US, so we won't be running into his family. And this isn't going to be a 'Alex reveals his secret life at school' fic; if it turns out to be, then I will have _really _changed my view of it...;)

**amitai: **:is in awe: Dude. Your review totally made my day. I think even if it was all a flame, I would still be happy that someone had spent the time to type an essay reviewing my story. ;)

It came off as a compliment, no worries, and thank you. :)

Yeah...I know...next time I write a story, I'll think about like, logic and stuff before I jump into the haphazard plot I've created. :sheepish grin: I'm just having so much fun...

EXACTLY what I was thinking, about the Fox being gay. I was just trying to be polite about it, but yeah. And I was wondering if anyone would wonder if the rest of the K-Unit would treat him differently...because that's exactly what I thought of. But I just imagined that they'd been together as a team for a long time, and they've been through a lot together, so they got over it.

Thanks again for the amazing review. :D

**Leobrightstar**: "there are hardly any AR storys out there with out a bloody girl in them, and i have a bit of a thing for k-unit" Great minds think alike, my friend. :D

**cutecess**: They have had all week cooped up together. :shrug: I'm trying not to rush it, but please tell me if you think I have.


	9. Chapter 8

Sooo….I have a question. As I have said before, I am a complete noob at fanfiction. Thus said, I made a mistake with my plans for this story: three weeks is a long time. I honestly don't have much more Scorpia interaction planned until the finale (which, naturally, I have totally planned out, because everyone likes to think about their climaxes…just not that whole, you know, middle part :/). I could make up stuff, but I've been thinking, and none of it is all that great. So my question is would you readers rather I

A. build up to the climax slowly with limited big plot stuff but lots and lots of K-Unit fun, or

B. skim over the middle part and get on with the climax ASAP

This is very much a work in progress, and I don't really know how either would go, but I know I could write either one. It is up to you, my dear readers, because as much as I know I enjoy writing K-Unit fun, I know it might be quite boring for you all.

And now just to prove my point, I managed to write an entire chapter with NO SCORPIA AT ALL – only some little things that needed to happen and a whole lot of fluff. :headdesk: I'm really sorry for this guys. Cut me some slack? It's my first try at this kind of thing.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Eagle walked briskly down the street, hands tucked in the pockets of his faded black jacket. It had stopped raining sometime during the night, though the clouds still loomed ominously overhead in the fading light, and the air smelt of cleanliness and freshness like it only can after new rain.

He pushed open the door to a small cafe on a street corner, the bells on the door tinkling as he entered. Music was playing from a crackly player – _Well, do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul? _(1) – and Eagle smiled slightly to himself as he recognized Don McLean's voice, as familiar as an old friend. The room was pleasantly warm after the cool evening air. It was, in essence, the perfect cozy little café.

He scanned the room casually, eyes resting on a young, red-haired woman sitting at a table in the corner, absently stirring some drink with a straw and watching him carefully. He nodded to her, nonchalant, and went to order a coffee before striding over and sitting down across from her. The two looked at each other for a moment, before Jack said, "So."

"So?" Eagle asked equably.

Jack stayed silent for a moment, still moving the straw in small circles and watching the man. "I'd like to know a little more about the situation, please," she finally said quietly. He looked slightly sheepish, and opened his mouth, but she cut him off, her voice suddenly sharp. "And no bull about not being able to tell me."

He looked at her for a moment, face almost smooth, detachedly wishing one of the other guys had volunteered. "He's doing fine," he said quietly.

She looked ready to say more, but a teenaged waitress with spiky, vividly purple hair walking by stopped by their table. "Hey Jack," she said cheerfully. "New boyfriend?"

Jack sighed and looked as though she was trying to not roll her eyes. "No, Josie," she said exasperatedly. "He's...," she stopped, frowning slightly. "..an acquaintance of my charge?" The teen raised her eyebrow. "Whatever; he's far from boyfriend-standard is my point. I don't even know your name," she added, looking at Eagle.

The man smiled easily. "Jesse."

Jack blinked. "Not…tiger or something?"

"Tiger?" He repeated, incredulous, his charming mask slipping.

This time she did roll her eyes. "How am I supposed to know how these things work?" She muttered.

"..right," the waitress said. "So can I get you two something to eat?"

"I got a coffee coming," Eagle replied, flashing a smile again.

"'M fine, Jose," Jack answered, giving the teen a small smile as well. "Thanks."

"Come here a lot?" Eagle asked as the purple-haired girl left even though it was blaringly obvious that she did.

Jack shrugged, thrown off-balance by his friendliness. "Yeah. It's a nice place."

"Tall regular coffee for Robert!" A man at the bar called, and Eagle stood to claim his drink.

As he sat back down, sipping the coffee, Jack gave him a flat look. "So it's Robert now, huh?" The question, and her tone, was misleading; even as she was asking him, she was silently fixing another name to his face.

Eagle shifted uncomfortably, but replied confidently, "It's my nickname."

"Uh-huh."

He sighed. "Look, when you do the kind of work I do, your name isn't something you want to give out all the time."

"You know Alex's," Jack said coldly.

"Well, Cub's…different," he said lamely.

"His '_job_' is just as dangerous as yours."

Eagle just acknowledged the point with an incline of his head. "I know."

Jack rubbed her eyes, her weariness suddenly apparent. Her worry over Alex was beginning to show; circles were forming under her eyes, and her mouth seemed to be fixed in a hard line. "So have they, you know…made a try yet?"

The question was vague, but Eagle knew exactly what she was talking about. Quickly he filled her in, telling her, essentially, all that had happened, though without going into detail. She didn't interrupt him, but when he was finished she asked sharply, "_Why_ is he still in school if they know he's there?"

"Honestly? I don't really know. They want him to stay there," Eagle said helplessly with a shrug. "I know that he is untouchable on campus – they're not going to try to hurt British schools anymore, or they'll face the full wrath of the government. They're already hard-pressed by all the extra funding gone into shutting them down, and if they give the government any more reasons to pour their efforts into getting them they could crumble very quickly." He blinked, and wondered how the two of them managed to keep all of the 'they''s straight – Scorpia and MI6 were both, apparently, under the vague 'them' title – though he supposed it had to do with context and tone.

Jack didn't seem satisfied. "They're still gambling with Alex's _life_ here."

"I know," Eagle said, sober-faced. "But they're used to that kind of position."

She twirled a strand of red hair around her finger. "And you're sure Alex is holding up okay?"

He nodded hesitantly. "I think so."

"You _think _so," she repeated, drumming her fingers against the countertop.

He shrugged, unfazed by her quiet frustration. "I'm not a psychologist, and Cub's not very…you know, open."

She sighed again. "I do know," she agreed quietly. "His uncle was the same way. He's always been introverted, but lately?" Her eyes were sad. "Sometimes I feel like I don't know him anymore."

Eagle's face softened slightly, and he shifted in his seat, looking away. She stood up seconds later, saying, "I should go."

He nodded, getting to his feet as well, and the two exited together. She gave him a wry smile before turning and starting to walk down the street, saying quietly, "See you when I see you, Milo."

He started to nod, then froze, breath catching in his throat. "Wha-wait," Eagle croaked. "Wait! Hey!" She didn't even pause, continuing to walk away from him. Frustrated, Eagle yelled desperately, "Jack!"

She stopped and turned slowly, red hair blowing haphazardly in the wind. "You have an answering machine, idiot."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"I can't believe she knows my name!" Eagle said miserably on Sunday morning. It came out as a muffled kind of moan because his face was pressed against the pillow Fox had shoved on his face earlier in a vain attempt to shut him up.

"Sorry?" Snake said, adding dryly, "I don't speak pathetic bastard.(2)"

Alex, who was curled up in a chair using Fox's laptop, snorted, before calling into the kitchen, "Any luck with the phone?"

"It wasn't any different two minutes ago, Cub," Wolf growled back. His apartment's phone had always been flaky at best, but now it seemed to have given up on life, and wouldn't hold a call for longer than ten seconds without crackling worrisomely.

Alex sighed. He wanted to call Jack and reassure her, because he had a nagging feeling she was getting more worried by the second.

Eagle removed the pillow and glanced at him, before grumbling, "Fine, fine, use mine," and tossing his cell phone at the teen.

Alex caught it, surprised. "Thanks," he said honestly, and began to dial, getting up from his seat and moving to a more private place.

The phone only rang once before someone picked it up. "Yes, Milo?" Jack asked, with exaggerated patience.

"Jack?" Alex's voice was unsure as he sat down at the desk in the room Fox was using.

"Alex..!" She sounded shocked. There were a couple, painfully prolonged seconds of awful silence, and Alex felt his heart drop. Had he and Jack grown so far apart that they didn't have anything to say to each other after a week of separation? But then her voice came through clearly again, in a tone Alex knew well. "Are you alright? Are they treating you okay? They seem alright, but after last time…and are you getting enough to eat? From what I've seen, I doubt they can cook; is anyone packing your lunch –"

"I'm fine, Jack," he said, smiling.

"You're sure? Milo said that they'd ambushed –"

"So you call him _Milo_ now?" Alex cut her off, partly because he honestly wanted to know, but mostly because he was sick of talking about Scorpia.

"Well, it's his name." Alex could tell she was shrugging.

"I suppose so." Alex didn't quite know how to explain to her that it seemed a little rude.

"What, should I be calling you _Cub_ now?"

"Very funny." Despite his sarcasm, Alex knew she could still hear the smile in his voice.

"…they are treating you alright, though, Alex?"

"Yes," Alex answered hesitantly. "They're…they're alright. I mean, we're not the best of buddies, but…we get along."

"Milo seemed nice enough," Jack said encouragingly, and Alex spared a moment to pity her. She sounded so out of her league; he knew she tried to be parental sometimes, but he didn't know how she could even pretend to have some semblance of control over his current situation.

"You've been fraternizing with the enemy!(3)" He accused her jokingly, hoping to lighten her mood, and was rewarded with a surprised laugh and indignant denial.

They talked for awhile longer before Alex glanced towards the living room. "I should probably go."

Her sigh came over crackly. "I miss you. This house is so empty when you're gone."

Alex felt a stab of guilt. He hated to imagine Jack pacing around an empty house when he was away on missions, worrying herself sick. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Oh, Alex, it's not your fault," she said quickly, sounding slightly guilty herself. "It's never your fault."

Alex ended the conversation feeling slightly gloomy and walked slowly back to the K-Unit. "Thank you," he said again to Eagle, handing him back the phone.

Wolf crossed his arms. "That's right – I almost forgot. Eagle," he said sternly, "_How_ could you be so stupid as to have a phone _with your name in the answering machine_ and _contacts_ on you while you're on the job?" His voice was dangerously low.

Eagle sat up straight, eyes dark. "You think I didn't think of that?" He asked disbelievingly, anger coloring his tone. "You think I'd – shit, Wolf, I might screw around a lot, but I wouldn't screw around with something like that." The look on his face was venomous.

The stern look on Wolf's face disappeared. "You wouldn't," he amended. "But-"

"Like hell I wouldn't," Eagle cut in before Wolf could continue. "There are no contacts on that phone; there are no voicemails, received messages or sent messages. Everyone at home except my sister think I don't bring it with me to work, so no one ever contacts me. Though apparently I forgot to reset my answering machine," he admitted grudgingly.

"But why do you bring it in the first place?" Snake asked, frowning. Alex leaned against a wall behind him, quietly observing the situation. He was willing to bet the four of them had forgotten he was there.

"My mom's health is, and has been for a long time, in a fragile state," Eagle said tersely. "It's just in case some emergency came up with her."

"But MI6 would let you know about something like that," Wolf said stubbornly. At Eagle's glare, he threw up his hands. "Don't look at me that way - it's part of my _job_ to look after you and make sure you don't do something like this!"

"And there's nothing you can do over the phone," Fox pointed out quietly.

"No," Eagle said firmly. "There _is _something I can do over the phone. She has a clinical depression."

Snake winced, and Wolf and Fox looked impressively awkward. Eagle frowned moodily out the window before bursting out, "And I don't understand how MI6 could've known that I always bring my phone!" He looked at them, his eyes slightly desperate, before asking quietly, "How much do they know about us?"

"Personally," Fox said solemnly, "I don't want to know the answer to that question. It's the price I pay to have this job."

Alex made a noise of disbelief, and the four men turned on him instantly – he'd been correct in his assumption that they had forgotten his presence. At their gazes, he elaborated. "There are other prices, too."

Wolf nodded. "Naturally. But I still feel privileged to have gotten my job - though I worked my ass off to get it. There're many who try for it."

Alex must have let some of the bitter feeling welling up in him show on his face, because Snake added sharply, "Of course, it is different when you work on a _volunteer _basis."

Alex felt the frustration building up again. "Would you give it a rest?"

"No," Snake said flatly. "It's _wrong_."

"We've been through this already!" Alex didn't have the patience for this. He was highly unused to such attention, and it was unbalancing.

Snake, Eagle and Fox turned to Wolf, who crossed his arms, suddenly seeming taller with the support of his team. "Not really. You told us your reason for working for them, and it wasn't good enough for me."

"What d'you – why isn't _Jack's visa_ 'important' enough for you? It's important to me."

Fox shrugged. "You're a smart kid. Seems like it would take more than that to stop you – when there's a will there's a way."

"And will certainly isn't the problem; you clearly despise your current position." Eagle seemed determined to put in his two cents.

"But it's too late," Alex said.

"Why?"

"Because once you're involved, you can't pull out." Seeing that they didn't understand, Alex bit his lip, trying to put his thoughts into words. Slowly he continued, looking out the small window at the grayish morning light. "I mean, it's not so much that I'm _used _to spying, or addicted to it or something stupid like that. I sure as hell don't enjoy it." His tone was disdainful; the option was ridiculous. "It's more than that. Once you realize that you are the _only person_ who can save…everything…how can you walk away?" None of them made a sound, and Alex continued to stare out the window as he added thoughtfully, "I don't want to know what might've happened if I wasn't there to stop Sayle or Grief or Cray or any of the others…and I can't help but think sometimes that maybe that makes it worthwhile. You just have to keep fighting because maybe one day you'll fight enough that there won't be reasons to fight anymore." Alex blinked, and turned back to face the men with an inward sigh, preparing himself – there were always repercussions when he exposed his feelings that much.

Wolf had a very odd look on his face. When they still didn't say anything, Alex asked warily, "What?"

"I'm just trying to get over the fact that one of the best talks on service I've ever heard came from someone more than ten years younger than me," Fox said slowly, giving Alex a long, measuring look. "It's surprisingly difficult."

"Me too." Eagle looked rather shocked. "I'm rather depressed that a teenager said that better than I've ever heard it."

Alex glanced at him, annoyed. "'A teenager'," he quoted mockingly. "And how long has it been since you were a teenager? Six months?"

Fox gave a startled laugh and Snake and Wolf shot Eagle very similar sly grins. Eagle looked highly miffed, which only added to their amusement. "I'll have you know it's been four long years since I was a teenager, thanks very much."

Alex relaxed; the tension seemed to be broken. He wished, not for the first time, that these forceful conversations would stop playing havoc with his emotions.

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So…kind of NOTHING happened in this chapter. Meh. I promise there will be more Brooklands in the next update!

(1) If you don't know what song this is, you lose.

(2) Another Shoebox quote. :D

(3) Shamelessly ripped off the beloved Ron Weasley, of course. ;)

Thanks for all of the reviews:insert review reply speech here:

**Black.as.Gold: **Thanks a bunch for the detailed review! Those are my favorite. :D And I think I just completely went overboard on Eagle last chapter, but I'm glad you think I balanced it.

…I was just having so much FUN.

**CunningMascara: **Really? Haha that's cool. Did you like it? It was always my favorite. :) And yes, my plot is official a slug. Slugslugslug. My apologies.

**PsychoWing: **Oh you're allowed to remember he has the gun. You're just not supposed to realize that Snake might've realized…;)

Eagle is happy you don't want him to get shot and is trying his best to not get shot. :)

**Ara Reed**: Hey hey hey (lol!) thanks for the review. :D The gun will come into play next update; Alex doesn't feel he needs it when he's in small house with the Unit.

**SheWeapon1:** Alex certainly doesn't want to share anymore, though the K-Unit are still curious. We'll see….

**mOOnlite-duskk: **I wish I could manage to get action into this chapter…meh. Thanks for the suggestion, though. :)

**digiMist: **That was most certainly NOT a flame; no worries, constructive criticism is appreciated. I dunno if they're overreacting, though it's very possible/probable, but it is a disturbing thing to hear about (the blackmail and all). And I imagine them as having a kind of simple mindset when working as a SAS team. Point taken though, and thanks for the advice. :)

**Rose-Aislin**: Haha I usually don't do personal replies because I like to keep them all here but I was SO EXCITED when I saw your review. xD Sorry if I was a bit…hyper. Thanks for the review and for restoring my faith in the spread of Shoebox, and don't worry – the cake quote is in the middle-ish, I believe.

**Ladylookslikeadude: **Just friends in this story – I'm not really a slash writer, even though Sirius/Remus is my OTP. :D And Alex might share more. Maybe. I don't really know yet…we'll see. :)

**Koruyuha**: Not sure how much more Alex is going to share. Wolf might bully more out of him. We'll see. :)


	10. Chapter 9

I'm back! Miss me?

And no, I did not desert you, though it did take me two weeks for this chapter. Mostly because I made my high school swim team:cue excitement: For me this cause for extreme happydancing and celebration, but for you all it means slower updates.

Right, I was really touched by the overwhelming vote for Option A; I really only got one B. Just want to make it clear that that doesn't mean I'm going to drag this story out – I'm really only looking at 4 more chapters...I think. We'll see. I never meant for it to get this long anways!

But if it had been B, pretty much this entire chapter wouldn't be here. :shrug: My gameplan at the moment (though it may change) is to have one to two more chapters of K-Unit fun (including more Wolf Tom interaction!) with lots of 'time passed' segments, and then get on with the climax, which will probably take two chapters. I'm excited. :D

I'm also quite amused by how many people can't see Milo as being Eagle-esque (though most amused by amitai's confusing response about some kids TV show..? lollll that review made my day) because for some reason it really fits for me – that was the easiest name to pick! Haha I'm outnumbered. Maybe I should've picked Walfred.

…that was a joke. You can laugh now. :disappears:

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Alex put his head on his desk for a moment, resting his forehead against the cool surface and letting his maths ((haha Word thinks that's a typo (and I am inclined to agree) :P)) teacher's voice drone on over his head. He knew he should really listen, but he was _tired_ – sleep had not been a motif of the previous night.

As he shifted his weight, he suddenly froze – the cool metal of Snake's gun was pressing against his side, an unpleasant reminder of his situation. He'd left the weapon sitting at the bottom of his backpack over the weekend, but this morning he'd stuck it in his belt, taking care to rearrange his clothes to hide the lump again. It had been reassuring to have it at first, but the knowledge of having it and its capabilities were beginning to creep him out.

The squeaking of the chair in front of him made Alex blearily open an eye in time to see Tom's hand sneak back to his side, leaving a note on Alex's desk. The teen picked it up and slowly unfolded it his lap, totally unconcerned about being caught – Ms. Prindle had probably never caught a note-passer in her entire career.

He read the words twice, quickly, frowning as he did so. In Tom's scribbled, messy handwriting, the note read: _What's up with you? Don't tell me it's nothing – there's something going on. Who was the man you rode to school with this morning? Was he one of _them

Alex glanced at his friend's back in front of him, noting the tenseness in Tom's slim frame. With an inward sigh, he scribbled back, _I'll tell you at lunch, kay? _and tossed the small piece of paper into Tom's lap.

He should really be learning about the quadratic formula before he didn't have the chance to.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Tom was waiting for Alex the moment the blonde teen got out of the lunch line. The two walked to a corner of the cafeteria together, away from their usual spot among football friends, and sat down across from each other.

Alex began to eat his pasta, chewing slowly and looking at Tom. The smaller boy hadn't even opened his bagged lunch. Alex correctly judged that he wouldn't until he got some answers, so he swallowed and began. "The people I was looking into in Venice are…rather pissed that I messed up their plans." He took another bite of pasta before continuing, apparently at ease. "They told the people I work for that I'd be disposed of soon. So right now I'm staying with some people who can protect me."

Tom slowly opened his lunch, taking out his sandwich. "That sounds pretty serious, Al. Is there anyone protecting you here?"

Alex nodded at Wolf, who was standing near the doorway to the cafeteria. "That new janitor isn't really a janitor."

Tom's eyes widened and he lowered his voice, glancing at Wolf. "Who is he then?"

"SAS," Alex muttered back.

Tom gazed at Wolf in awe. Wolf, who was inconspicuously glancing at Alex, noted the small boy's look with bewilderment. Tom jumped visibly at the eye contact, quickly diverting his gaze. "Holy crap," he breathed to Alex. "That is _so cool._"

Alex, suppressing a grin, took a drink from his water, and shrugged. "Yeah…" He glanced at his friend, a wonderful idea coming to him. Carefully he hedged, "He's pretty bad-ass."

"…he looks like he could snap me in half." Tom shot Wolf another quick look.

"I bet he could," Alex mused, trying not to laugh.

Throughout the day, as Wolf surreptitiously followed Alex, Tom not-so-surreptitiously followed Wolf. Wolf shot Alex suspicious glances, only made more suspicious when he caught the teen's shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Alex was enjoying himself immensely. He'd have to layer it on Tom a little more. As Alex had expected, Wolf was growing impressively awkward and uncomfortable around his admiring shadow: revenge was sweet.

As Alex was getting books from his locker at the end of the school day, Wolf appeared over his shoulder. In a low voice, he growled, "Cub. Explanations." Tom's head shot out of a nearby locker. Wolf started. "_Why_ are you _following me_?" He asked Tom, voice slightly higher than normal in his discomfort.

Alex's grin slid off his face and a worried look replaced it as he quickly turned around, opening his mouth, but Tom beat him to it. "It's alright," the other boy whispered, eyes wide. He managed to miss Alex frantically shaking his head at his friend behind Wolf's back. "I know."

Alex slapped his hand across his face, wincing. "You know," Wolf repeated, his voice disbelieving. "What d'you mean –" He stopped, looking at Alex, then snapped at the blonde, "Wait, he _knows_?"

Alex removed his hand, watching Wolf carefully, and then nodded.

Wolf looked peeved. "Do the words _Official Secrets Act_ mean _anything_ to you?!" He hissed.

Alex glared. "That's not fair. Blunt never made me sign it – no one would believe me."

"Apparently someone would!"

"Tom helped me out when they wouldn't!" Alex was highly annoyed now – what did Wolf know about anything? And how had a little joke turned into something so serious? Tom watched the two have the harsh, whispered argument in shocked silence.

"Are _trying_ to make your life harder for yourself?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why don't you _stop_ doing god-damned _stupid_ things like that that could _get you killed_?" Wolf looked dangerous, and Tom rather involuntarily took a step back, glad no one could hear the argument over the general raucous hubbub in the hallway.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Wolf's eyes narrowed. "Sometimes I forgot how much of a child you really are."

Alex stood in shock, reeling from the attack – he couldn't ever remember being accused of immaturity. He hadn't felt his age ever since his uncle had died, and the gun that pressed against his side did nothing to make him feel any younger. Meeting Wolf's eyes with a cold, scathing look, he slammed his locker closed and left.

Tom was left standing next to a highly agitated SAS agent who actually used a hand-sign to tell the boy 'I'm watching you' (1) before stalking off in Alex's direction. Tom was too busy being frightened, shocked and a little amused all at once to respond.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"That's it!" Snake burst out that night around the take-out burritos Eagle had picked up. "Cub, Wolf: spit it out and stop sulking." The two he'd addressed both scowled in nearly identical expressions at being told they were 'sulking'.

"Come _on_," Fox said exasperatedly. "Suck it up."

"Cub here has told one of his friends about his work," Wolf replied sourly.

"You sure that's a good idea, Cub?" Eagle asked carefully.

"I needed help one time and there was no one else," Alex said tersely. "And I know I can trust him."

Fox nodded slowly. "It's a dangerous secret," he reminded Alex. "Though I'm sure you're well aware of that."

"You think?" Alex asked sarcastically, adding dryly, "I got the memo on the dangerous aspect pretty early on, actually."

"So what's the problem?" Eagle asked, confused.

Wolf opened his mouth, but Alex answered faster. "Apparently Wolf doesn't think I'm mature enough to make decisions like that," he said bitterly.

Wolf frowned. "I never said that."

"You implied it, Wolf."

"Implications are different than stated truths, Cub."

"Whoa, whoa," Snake said quickly, holding up his hands to stop the glaring duo. "Enough already."

Wolf made a noise of frustration. "Why can't anyone realize that he's _fourteen_? That isn't old enough to gamble with things like this!"

Alex ground his teeth, fighting to keep his voice as level as possible. "I didn't ask for this responsibility; I didn't _want _it. I just ended up with it and dealt with it how I saw fit."

"But you should be worrying about…tests and football and girls!" Wolf shot back, frustration creeping into his voice. "Not _bombs_ and clones and MI6."

"I'm sick of people telling me what I _should _be!" Alex said exasperatedly. He actually winced when he realized how 'teen'_ that_ sounded. "What I'm trying to say," he continued, almost calm, "Is that I'm stuck with how my life is for now." Meeting Wolf's eyes, he added, "And I wish other people could just accept that and move on."

The three men were silent. Then, very slowly, and much to all fives' shock, Wolf's hard expression softened slightly. "Okay," he said quietly.

Alex blinked, looking at Wolf in surprise. He opened his mouth, promptly shut it, and nodded at Wolf. After a moment, with quiet sincerity, the teen said, "Thank you."

Eagle whistled. "_Damn_," he said, drawing out the word as he stared at Alex. "_What_ happened to you kid? You never said a word at Brecon but now you can make _Wolf_ back down?" Before anyone replied, he added thoughtfully, "I can definitely count on my fingers the number of times that's happened…and still have plenty left…."

Wolf, getting up to grab a soda, cuffed him on the back of the head with the ease of long practice.

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Later that week, Alex jogged steadily down the football field, eyes glued to the ball. The play seemed to be progressing fine without him.

He glanced at his watch. In exactly 1 minute and 49 seconds Snake should walk by on the sidewalk.

How had the other guys not noticed that the same man strolled down the sidewalk at exact fifteen minute intervals? Yes, he changed his walking speed and attitude, even alternated wearing his hat, but if Alex hadn't known Snake he would've been suspicious ages ago.

Bored, Alex glanced at his watch again as the team jogged in to the center of the field. 29 seconds. The SAS were very punctual about _everything_. Had Wolf ever been late to anything?

9 seconds. Police sirens sounded in the distance, and the teen idly wondered what had happened. Alex looked up the street exactly fifteen minutes since Snake had last walked by.

No one came. The sirens grew louder.

Alex's heart began to beat faster. The coach dismissed the team and his friends moved around him, chatting and wiping their brows. Their voices sounded dim to his ears as Alex pulled on his sweatshirt.

Wolf and Snake were nowhere to be seen – they should've been right there when Alex's practice let out. Alex ran to the locker room and carefully slipped the gun into his the waistline of his shorts underneath his sweatshirt. He walked back to the field warily.

"You alright, Rider?" His coach asked gruffly, noticing the paleness in the teen's face. Alex didn't answer. The coach watched in growing concern as a serious-looking man suddenly ran onto the field and made a beeline for Rider.

"Alex!" The man yelled. Alex whipped around, relief washing over his face at the sight of Snake. He hurried over.

"What happened?" Alex asked tersely, keeping his voice lowered so his coach couldn't hear the conversation. "Where's Wolf?"

"He got arrested," Snake answered. "For fighting."

"With them?"

"Yeah."

"Guns?"

"Nope. They didn't want to pull 'em out and Wolf was rather preoccupied." The two were walking speedily side by side, headed for the car. "Someone called the police, who got there before I did, they scattered, and the cops scooped up Wolf."

"Rider?" Alex's coach asked, blocking their path. "What's going on?"

"It's fine, Coach Smith," Alex answered instantly, trying to get the coach out of their way quickly. "Family problem." The lie was said without pause or hesitation. The coach missed the quick, appreciative look Snake shot the teen as he nodded and moved out of their way.

Alex felt his heart rate returning to normal as they got into the car. The immediate issues at hand had been dealt with: no one was dead, no one was in the hospital, Scorpia had left the scene and he was on his way back to the apartment. Time to address the not-as-worrying issues. "What happens to Wolf now?"

Snake glanced at him as he started the car. "Don't worry, Cub – on-duty SAS have a way of slipping out of jail." He took out a portable radio and flipped a switch. "Eagle."

"Yes?" Eagle's voice was strangely professional.

"Wolf's at home base. He had a bar with our friends." Alex blinked, trying to understand what Snake was talking about, before realizing it must be a code.

"And Cub?" Eagle was still business-like.

"Present," Alex said dryly before Snake could answer. Eagle chuckled before terminating the connection.

"'Home base'?" Alex asked, lips twitching, as Snake began a very roundabout route back to the apartment. "I'm shocked, Snake; never would've put you down for one to be at home in jail."

Snake rolled his eyes without turning from the road. "_I_ didn't make up SAS code."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Wolf walked calmly into the kitchen of the apartment at 8:30, sporting an impressive black eye. Eagle looked up from their game of deuces (2) and whistled. "Someone hit you hard, Wolf-man."

Wolf met his eyes coolly, holding his gaze for a moment, before replying casually, "You should see the other guy."

Fox groaned. "You did _not_ just say that." Wolf tried to look apathetic, but some of his confusion showed on his bruised face. "That's got to be the most clichéd line out there," Fox explained. Comprehending, Wolf ignored him easily.

Alex frowned at the cards on the table. "A straight doesn't beat a full house. C'mon Snake, haven't you ever played poker?"

Eagle let out a bark of laughter, slinging an arm over Snake's shoulders. "Our Snake's a gambler, for sure," he said jokingly. Snake grumbled something under his breath that Alex was positive had something to do with Eagle, and equally positive that he wouldn't want to repeat it in front of Jack.

"Hypocrite," Wolf deadpanned as he sat down. "You couldn't keep a poker face if your life depended on it." He paused, and then admitted grudgingly, "Actually, you could. But _only_ then; not in a game of poker."

"Touché," Eagle replied, lips quirking.

"Ha," Fox said, triumphantly laying down the trump card in the game. "Take that, bas-" He stopped, looking at Alex, then revised sheepishly, "Er, brat."

Alex snorted, privately amused at Fox's attempt to tone down his language. Eagle laughed as well. "I think we're already enough of a bad influence on 'im," he said impishly. "At least, Jack seems to think so."

Alex chuckled. Eagle looked at him suspiciously as he stood to pick up his glass on the other side of the room, saying slowly, "By the way, Cub, what did she say about m- us?"

Alex shrugged, shuffling the cards expertly as he privately filed away Eagle's slip-up: he'd almost said 'me'. "Oh, she talked about meeting you at the coffee shop." He paused, glancing at Eagle over his shoulder and childishly savoring his power over the man. "I told her she'd been fraternizing with the enemy."

Snake and Fox burst into laughter, and Wolf cracked a smile – something Alex had come to take for 'highly amused'. A dark arm slipped around Alex's neck, pulling him into a headlock while Eagle's other hand delivered an expert noogie (3) and Eagle's voice growled out, "You little twerp!" Alex yelped and attempted to push him off, but the man was far stronger than him, and it only stopped when Eagle drew back.

Alex whirled to face him, now standing. There was a wicked glint in Eagle's eyes. Alex blew his bangs out of his eyes and shoved his hair back down, shaking his head disdainfully at the man's childish antics and attempting to regain his mature composure.

Eagle grinned at the look of indignation on the teen's face and patted him affectionately on the shoulder. "Never forget I'm twice your size, Cub."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

You know…you take two fingers, point them at your eyes and then at the person you're talking to.

One of my _favorite _card games. It involves poker hands and stuff. You should go learn it. :)

Do you all know what a noogie is? curious It's when someone rubs their knuckles on the other person's head…ohmygosh hahahaaa this'll be really funny if it's not as widely used as I think it is….

**CMT1992: **Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm kinda bored with the plotline where Alex runs off and tries to fight the bad guys on his own. shrug I just feel like it's been done.

**Rose-Aislin**: Ahhhh Shoebox. :reminiscences: I want to put more lines in here, but I couldn't quite imagine Fox calling Eagle 'Offensive Pie'. xD

Thanks for the heads-up, but because I haven't received any complaints I think I'm going to keep doing this…it's just way easier for me to reply all at once. I mean, if it really starts to bother people I'll stop, but I just prefer answering here.

**Smelly Cat710: **Thanks for being understanding. I know it might bother some people to have Fox be gay (especially because he was actually developed in the last book – as previously mentioned, I'd already planned this out before I read Snakehead), but it's just how it worked in my head.

I most certainly read HP and AR:D In fact, I stayed up all night to finish Deathly Hallows…xD :smug:HP nerd:

**PsychoWing:** Er…I haven't seen Atlantis since it was in theaters…I vaguely remember it…(read: don't remember it at all).

American Pie IS the ultimate sing along. I _think_ I used to know all the verses. Maybe. I'm bad at the 'generation lost in space' one. ;)

**Hahaheeheehaha: **Life is like that; it's a funny, fickle thing, that life. I'm sorry you can't talk to your friends, though; hope it gets better!

**CunningMascara: **I'm glad you think slugs can be fun. Personally, I agree, but I thought that was just me. :)

**digiMist**: Eagle/Jack might just be on the agenda for this story…;)

**Hakumele: **Not to be arrogant, but I wouldn't actually call myself a noob writer…I've been writing for years. I'm just a noob at fanfic – like putting my works online for random people to read? As WIPs? About Alex Rider? _Very_ new to me. ;)

**MadzCheesyfied: **Ahhhh fellow shoeboxer:glomp:

**Amitai: **Oh wow, I hope you review sleep-deprived next time, too. ;) Just kidding! You sounded like you really needed to sleep lol.

I can see what you mean about the convenience of them going back for training. :shrug: It is a bit _too_ convenient. But…I was thinking…now don't hold me to this, it's just running around in my head right now, but I was thinking my next fic would be about Alex's training through Wolf's POV and I couldn't let go of the idea that they'd been there before and were just _pissed_ at having a kid in their unit. And I'd get to make up a lot, because there's not much in the book…anyways, _that_ fic is in very early stages right now, but in case it ever does happen, that was a little set-up there last chapter.

Sorry about the forced thing. Hope this ones better!

Next review….I like your idea about option A/B, and I was kinda already planning to do that. Thanks. :)

Lol there's more cabin fever in this one, for sure! ;)


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